Ch. 21

Everything was prepped. Bags were packed, filled with extra medical supplies - saline bags, bandages, pills of different types. Any blankets not currently in use were added to the bags, along with a few pillows and sets of hospital scrubs. If they had to leave, they wanted Daryl and Rick to at least be comfortable.

The bags were hidden, but readily accessible, put away in a small supply closet in Glenn and Maggie's room, which happened to be closest to the exit.

Michonne had gone out and gassed the cars they'd taken - syphoning from other abandoned vehicles if necessary.

And, of course, everyone was on the lookout.

Rick, Beth, Elena and Judith had moved to a room on the fourth floor with a good view of the parking lot and road outside of it. If anyone was seen coming, Beth was to run and alert the others. Meanwhile, below, everyone except Daryl and Carol took turns on guard.

00

Daryl knew something was up.

Everyone's attitudes had changed, Carol being the only exception.

It was like they were all waiting on something, or waiting for something.

Daryl questioned everyone he could, but they all said the same thing: They were just upping their security to protect Rick and Daryl better.

While the gesture seemed nice, it made Daryl angry. These people - his family, really - were putting their necks on the line because of him. For him. And he couldn't help! The thought nagged at him, ate at him.

He'd attempted several times to help stand guard. He could, after all, still shoot his cross bow or a gun, but every attempt ended up with him being angrily pushed away, back to his room.

Amidst all of this, Daryl entered his 4th month of pregnancy.

He was definitely showing now, and it was embarrassing. Part of it was probably extra weight from the extra food and lack of activity, he knew that. Still, it was weird. He had always been so fit. To look down and see that he had a belly was odd. It made him feel less attractive than ever.

The thing he hated most was when Carol touched it.

For some reason, she seemed to like to do that. Touch his stomach. She would rest her hand on it or rub it and move her hand up his chest. Thankfully, she didn't touch him up there too much. His nipples were insanely sensitive. He supposed he ought to be thankful that he wasn't growing a pair of tits.

They had shown some affection though. He kept thinking about when they'd had their first kiss.

For Carol, it was fantastic. She had been longing to kiss him for months.

For Daryl, it was kind of scary. Good, but scary.

His main worry was fucking it up somehow.

The thing was, he hadn't really ever kissed a girl before. Well, once he had. When he was like, eight. One of the neighbor girls had gone out in the woods with him and had given him a kiss. But it was really just a peck on the lips. What he and Carol did, well, it was way more than that.

He was grateful that she took the lead, biting his lips, moving her tongue around his mouth before kissing his ears and neck.

Needless to say, the whole thing had left him aroused. Carol had tried to help with that too, but Daryl felt too shy - too scared to show her his body - so he'd pushed her away, gone to the bathroom to jack off.

Lately he had been wearing nothing but baggy hospital scrubs. He knew that Carol knew what his body looked like - she'd touched him enough - but the thought of letting her outright see it all, it kinda made him want to vomit.

00

One day, about two weeks after the car had first been sighted by the others, Hershel gave Daryl another exam.

He checked Daryl's vitals, as he had the last time, and he used his stethoscope to hear the baby too. From what he could tell, the baby was fine.

Daryl left the exam feeling happy that the baby was seemingly okay, but annoyed that he'd apparently gained eight pounds in the last month.

Hershel told him it was because he had been so underweight to begin with, but Daryl wasn't really paying attention.

Merle would laugh at him, he thought to himself. Worried about gaining a few pounds like some woman. It was pathetic, really. He guessed that the reason it bothered him was because of Carol. The fear that she would be disgusted by him had yet to go away.

He returned to his room with a scowl on his face. Carol, of course, was waiting for him, bed made up and wearing the nice, hunter green low cut shirt that he liked.

She smiled at him as he entered.

"How'd it go?"

"...Fine," he grumbled, walking past her.

She followed closely behind.

"Is the baby alright?"

"Uh-huh. Fine."

"So shouldn't you be happy?"

Daryl stopped, turned to Carol and sighed.

"I am happy."

"But you're stomping all over like you're angry. So tell me what's wrong." She moved to close the door.

"It's stupid," Daryl answered.

He had no idea how he could explain this whole thing. He'd sound like a complete idiot, a pathetic man, better just to try to avoid the subject entirely.

"I'm fine."

Carol smiled again, and gently pushed him back towards the bed. She crawled on top of him straddling him.

"You know," she said, kissing him, "You can tell me anything." Another kiss. "And I'll always listen to you," she moved to kiss his ear, "Even if you think whatever's on your mind is stupid." A kiss on his collar bone, this time.

Daryl opened his mouth to protest, but Carol quickly shut him up by reaching down and touching his cock. It was already hard. Just her kisses had gotten him there.

"Carol, you don't have to -"

"Shhh," Carol replied, grinning. "I want to."

She slunk further down, nimble fingers pulling Daryl's pants lower.

A second later, her mouth was around him, her hand wrapped around it as well. She moved up and down, moved her tongue around the tip of his cock and it was unlike anything Daryl had ever felt.

"Ohgod," he gasped. Her mouth was so warm and it felt so good and - fuck!

Daryl's whole body tensed as he released into her mouth. Carol immediately pulled back.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ," he growled, "I'm so fuckin' sorry."

Carol wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

"It's okay," she said, but Daryl hadn't heard it.

He stood back up, pulled his scrub pants higher and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Stupid! Stupid, stupid! How fucking stupid could he be? He'd lasted what - ten seconds? And then he'd shot it right into her mouth, no fuckin' respect for her at all!

Daryl turned on the shower, letting the cold water hit him as he felt sorry for himself.