Daryl walked down the hall towards the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He could smell pancakes and coffee and knew his mom was up.
"It's about time you got up," his mom said as she leaned against the counter, sipping a cup a coffee.
He grunted a response and picked up a plate, put several pancakes on it, soaked them in syrup and poured a cup of coffee.
"That's all I get – a grunt. Can't even say good morning to your mother," Said Mary, raising an eyebrow at him.
He looked up to see an amused expression on her face. "Mornin'," he said through a mouthful of pancakes.
She laughed. "Merle called this morning. He's coming home for a month's leave."
"When's he get here?" he hadn't seen his brother in two and a half years. It would be the first time he came home since he joined the Marines.
"He said he'd be here by Friday."
"That's great. I really missed him."
"I know you did." She poured another cup of coffee. "So did you think about what I said?"
"I ain't going to no stupid homecoming dance," he said, taking his plate and putting it in the sink.
"Why not? I bet Carol would really like it if you asked her." She looked at over the rim of her coffee cup.
Mary knew how her son felt about his best friend, even though he had never said anything. However, she could tell in the way he looked at her. He always looked out for her. He treated her little girl as if she was his own. She knew there was something more there, even if neither of them did.
"It ain't like that, we're just friends. She doesn't see me like that." He wished she did. She had been his best friend since they were twelve. For the last year or so, he had been having feelings for that were more than just friendship. But he wasn't about to risk their friendship by telling her. Especially when he was sure she didn't feel the same. If all he ever got was friendship then he would be happy with that.
"Are you sure about that? You spend more time with her than you do with anybody else. I've seen the way you look at her."
"Doesn't mean nothing. She doesn't feel the same. So it doesn't matter." He groaned when realized he had blurted out the truth.
"That's what I thought. How do you know she doesn't feel the same? Have you asked her?"
"Why do you think she does?" He couldn't believe he was talking to his mom about this.
"I'm a woman. We know these types of things," she shrugged and sat her coffee cup in the sink.
He was starting to get uncomfortable. "I ain't talking about this with you, mom."
"Fine. Promise me you'll think about it. And I promise I won't bring it up again." She said as she started gathering her things for work.
She thought it was probably a little weird that she was poking around in his love life like this. But she just wanted him to be happy. After all, she had partially been the cause of a lot of his unhappiness in the past. So now, she wanted to do what she could to make sure he was happy. And if that meant giving him a shove in the right direction, then so be it.
"I promise," he grumbled.
"Good. I have to get to work now." She grabbed her keys on the way out the door. "Are you going to be home tonight?"
"Nah. Going over to Carol's." He looked up to see her smiling at him.
"We're going to study," he said defensively.
"Okay. Have good day," she said as she walked out the door.
He felt a little annoyed at his mom for interfering in his life like this, but he couldn't be too mad at her. He knew she was just trying to help. He was actually proud of his mom – she had come a long way the past five years. After his dad had gone to prison, she had found the courage to divorce him. And she had even gone to a rehab center. She still attended AA meetings once a week.
She had also opened her own diner with her friend, Jacqui. The business had really been thriving for the past three years.
He hadn't meant to tell her how he felt about Carol but it had just slipped out. He wondered if she could be right. Maybe there was a way to find out for sure without telling Carol how he really felt about her, just in case he was wrong. He would have to think about it.
After getting dressed, he grabbed his keys and wallet and was about to head out the door when his cell phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket.
"Hey, Carol….What's wrong?…It won't… Alright, I'm on my way…Bye."
He shut the door behind him and headed over to Carols.
When Daryl pulled into Carol's driveway, she was leaning against the trunk of the car while she watched Sophia draw in the dirt with a stick.
He got out of his truck and slammed the door as Sophia came barreling toward him.
"Dar, Dar," she screeched and flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his legs. He lifted her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Hey, 'Phia, how's it going?"
"Mama broke the car," she said, pointing at Carol.
"Did she, now?"
Sophia nodded.
"Well, why don't we see if can fix it?" He set Sophia on her feet and walked over to pop the hood. "So, you broke the car, huh?" He said, addressing Carol with a smirk.
"I didn't break it. It just won't start."
He chuckled. "I told you, you needed to let me or your uncle do a tune up on it." He moved to look under the hood.
"Is it bad?" asked Carol, looking under the hood while grabbing Sophia's hand to keep her from running off.
"Nah," he said, slamming the hood. "Need a new cable on your battery. See right here, where it's worn out." He pointed to the piece of cable that had worn through. " I can put a new one on tonight when I come over. Bring it by the garage this weekend and we'll give it a tune up."
"Great. So can I talk you into giving me and Sophia a ride?"
"I don't know. Sophia, what do you think? You think I should give your mom a ride?"
She reached her arms up towards him. "Up," she demanded. "I go play," she said placing her hands on the side of his face to make sure he was listening.
He chuckled. "Alright, let's go."
After getting Sophia and her car seat into the passenger side of the truck, Carol climbed across the driver's side to sit in the middle.
Daryl climbed in after her. How was he supposed to drive with her sitting so close to him? He watched her get settled into the seat and noticed she was wearing skirt that came to right above her knees. How was he supposed to concentrate on driving with her legs sticking out from under that skirt like that, taunting him? He wondered what it would feel like to run his hands up them. He bet they were really smooth.
He looked up to see Carol looking at him. She was giving him that look she gave him right before she got ready to give him shit about something.
"What?"
Her eyes crinkled and she smirked. "You were staring at my legs," she stated.
He put the truck in gear and backed out the driveway. "Was not." He ducked his head so she wouldn't see how red his face was.
"Yes, you were," she smiled. "Did you see something you liked?"
"Stop," he said, and felt his face burning. He really didn't mean for her to catch him.
She laughed, which in turn caused Sophia to laugh."You did, didn't you?"
"I will put you out on the side of the road," he threatened, making no move to actually stop the truck.
She gasped in mock horror. "You mean you would actually put me and my poor, helpless daughter on the side of the road?"
"Of course not," he smirked. "I would never leave Sophia on the side of the road." He gave her a shit eating grin.
She playfully smacked him on the arm and he laughed.
"Hey, guess what," he said.
"What?"
"Merle's coming home for a month's leave."
"Really? That's great! I know how much you've missed him. When's he getting here?" she asked.
"End of the week."
"Andrea will be really happy."
"Why would she be happy?" he asked. Last time he checked Andrea hated his brother.
"Because she has a really big crush on him," she said, then slapped her hand over her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that."
"Too late now."
"Daryl, you can't tell him. I promised I wouldn't say anything."
"You promised. I didn't promise anything," he said as he pulled in front of the daycare center.
"Come on, please?"
"I don't know," he said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin while putting the truck in park. "What will you give me if I keep quiet?"
Fuck. What the hell is wrong with me? I never say things like that to Carol.
Carol stared at Daryl. He didn't usually say things like that to her. She was usually the one who made 'risky' comments. He would get embarrassed, tell her to knock it off. But he'd never started it before.
And before she could stop herself or think about what she was saying. She leaned in close to him and said, "Whatever you want." She watched as Daryl's face turned red and he ducked his head. She suddenly felt self-conscious. She never felt that way around Daryl before.
What was going on with her?
What's going on is that your're in love with your best friend, her inner voice said.
Dammit, her inner voice sounded suspiciously like her friend Michonne. Michonne had been on her for weeks to tell Daryl how she felt. If only she had some inkling of how he felt, then maybe she would. She shook her head. It was entirely too hot in this truck.
"Can you…? Um…" she gestured towards the door.
"Oh, yeah." He slid out so she could get out and go around to get Sophia.
After getting her out the car seat and grabbing her diaper bag, she walked around the front of the truck. "I'll be right back," She said. "Tell Daryl bye."
"Bye, Dar," she said and blew him a kiss.
"Bye 'Phia. I'll see you later. You behave yourself."
"I'll just be a few minutes," said Carol as she started for the building.
"Take ya time."
He was going to need a few minutes to force himself to relax. He groaned. This was going to be the longest fucking day ever.