"I'm doing it." Carol didn't take her eyes from the sight in front of her as she spoke.
"Doin' what?" Daryl's voice drifted through the breeze and a second later he was in her eye line.
He'd been watching her walk ahead of him for awhile, both of them straining to try and locate the source of the soft, rushing noise of the stream. Carol had spotted it first, breaking through the clearing and coming to a stop a few inches from the grassy edge. He'd watched her take it in.
She squatted down, pulling loose the buckles on her boots. "I'm putting my feet in, this is too good to waste."
He snorted at she rocked back to sit flat on her ass, jerking the boots off and stuffing her socks inside them.
"Oh god." Her head lolled back as her feet hit the water. "Sit down."
"Nah, I'm good." Daryl turned his back to the water, scanning the trees at the edge of the clearing for anything - anyone - untoward.
"You're probably frightened that your boots are glued to your feet. I don't think I've seen you take them off in about a year." She teased, looking up at him from the grass, laying back on her hands like she didn't have a care in the world. He hadn't seen her that relaxed in a long time.
She was probably right. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken off his boots. Daryl took one last glance around and let his crossbow down from his shoulder.
"Fuck it." He muttered, unravelling the twine he'd twisted around his ankles to hold his pants and boots together. There'd been no time to get anything new. Or new to him, at least.
God, the water did feel good. Like a little slice of heaven.
He mimicked her position, falling back onto his elbows, the sun warm on his face, the water cool on his feet, rushing between his toes and lapping at his ankles. Ten minutes passed silently, peacefully.
"I wish we could have this forever."
He grunted an agreement and was about to say something more, when the splashing caught his attention. Daryl jerked upright, spotting the Walker lumbering through the stream, fighting the current clumsily to reach them.
He reached out and grabbed it by the collar, yanking it out of the water and forcing it to the ground, Carol came right beside him, pushed her knife through it's soft skull.
Daryl stepped away and scooped up her boots and pushed them at her, before retrieving his own and his crossbow and heading back towards the group.
He heard Carol sigh behind him.
"I suppose there's nothing we get to have for forever anymore."