A.N: Sorry! It was pointed out to me by a reader that Chapter 4 had the same text as chapter 2! (Thank you, Bearhead, you magnificent ball of awesome for pointing this out). Very sorry about that, there was some muck ups in doc manager (*cough* me being up very late and not taking note of the titles of things *cough*) Anywhooo... You may feel free to throw bricks. *Scurries away*
An ear-piercing scream was the first thing Daryl heard on Sunday morning.
His heart began pounding in his chest and he jolted awake like he'd experienced an electric shock. A small, Lily-sized ball of energy was hurdling toward him at record speed, effectively knocking the wind out of him as her small body slammed into his chest. Daryl grabbed her by her shoulders and held her upright on the mattress. "What? What's happenin'? Ya sick? Ya hurt?" He asked quickly. Lily shook her head no and took a second to catch her breath.
"It's an emergency, Daryl!" She started trying to tug him out the door. When Daryl didn't budge, she crossed her arms over her chest and made a long, dramatic 'uuugh' sound. "We're running late." Lily whined, her brow creasing in worry.
"Late?" Daryl managed after several attempts to form any words whatsoever. Lily nodded and tugged his arm again.
"For church." Lily said, like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Daryl, still fresh out of his panicked state, hung his head and swallowed thickly.
"So, what 'm getting here is; ya bolted into ma room at," quick glance at the clock, "eight in the mornin', on a Sunday, screamin' like the world was endin', 'cause ya late for Sunday Service?" Daryl pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long, low sigh.
"Yes." Lily said firmly, plonking herself down to sit cross legged on the bed. Daryl tugged at his sheets and collapsed back onto the mattress.
"Go back t' bed, Lil." He mumbled into his pillow, he could feel her eyes on him, it was making him quite uncomfortable and it was almost impossible to relax under her gaze.
"Daryl, please," she moved up to shake his shoulder. He remained silent. "I used to go every Sunday with mom, she'd make me go." Lily gave up, she flopped down next to him on the bed. "I didn't think I'd want to go to church after she died, 'cause it's kinda boring sometimes. But I do. I do wanna go." She admitted. Daryl sighed.
"Five minutes." He grumbled, his voice muffled from the pillow. Lily sat up then. "Ya be ready and waitin' by the car in five minutes." Daryl felt himself tense as Lily wound her tiny arms around his neck and whispered with all the sincerity in the world, "thank you!"
The drive to the church was silent, for most the way anyhow. Lily was practically vibrating with excitement, you'd never seen a child so happy to be attending church. As Daryl glanced at her, he wondered if he could picture her growing up in one of those God-fearing families. He didn't think he could.
"Thank you, Daryl." Lily said with a curt nod of the head. Daryl shrugged and kept his attention on the road, Lily looked at him and tried to picture him going to church. She didn't think she could. "Daryl… did you go to church? – When you were little, I mean." Lily wondered, she turned a bit to face him.
Even though he was looking at the road, Lily always liked to be looking at people when they spoke. There was a few moments of silence, Lily didn't really expect him to answer.
"Once, when I was real young, younger than y'are now. My Ma packed me and Merle – uh, ya Daddy – inta the car and said we were goin' t' church. 'S the most borin' thing I can ever 'member doing. Got in trouble 'bout ten times 'cause I wouldn't sit still." Daryl reminisced. He looked up and down the street, the traffic was killing him. The church was right in the middle of the town and so most cars on the road were coming to and from, creating quite a few jams.
"I went to church every Sunday. Then I went to youth program on every Wednesday – it kinda sucked but they had a drawing station there and I used to take all their paper home with me," Lily chuckled. "My Mom was kinda… God-crazy. She had this bible she read every night – no joke. She took verses and highlighted 'em. She had this picture a' Jesus being hung up on that cross right outside my room. It gave me night terrors. That's something I don't miss you know, that painting. I'm glad I don't have to see it anymore." Lily became so entranced thinking about that painting that she didn't notice the car stop, not at first anyway. Daryl thought that was the most Lily had ever said to him, so he didn't really know what to reply with, instead he just tapped her on the shoulder and stepped out of the car.
-Line Break-
The church was exactly what Daryl had expected it to be; it was big, and old, and had overgrown grass and garden beds full of blood red roses, the inside was as he expected as well; it was hot and sticky – the building being sans an air-con and the rays of early morning sun that filtered through the stain-glass windows cast the church in an eerie, dim lighting scheme. The whole place gave him the creeps and there was a quiet chatter among the church-goers. The two late-comers made their way down the rows, looking for a free spot to sit in. Daryl could feel a lot of eyes on him and Lily as they quietly made their way through full rows.
"Lily, Daryl." Someone whispered. Daryl and Lily turned at the sound of their names and Daryl felt a different kind of nervousness when he saw Carol sitting with Sophia at her side, he felt weird around Carol. She waved them over and patted the spot next to her. Daryl felt Lily grab his pants and tug him toward their neighbors. As they shuffled into the spot Lily and Sophia both whispered quick hellos and Daryl gave a grateful half-smile to Carol, who smiled back in return.
The service was as boring as could be and the Priest had a monotone voice; he was old and took about ten minutes to say one simple thing. The heat was really starting to bother Daryl, but it bothered the little ones more so and Lily had taken her sandals of in a fruitless attempt to cool down, Sophia had taken her shoes off as well and was swinging her feet a little, enjoying the little draft it created between her feet. Daryl guessed the heat was starting to bother Carol as well because she took the little hymn booklet and – quite discretely – fanned herself with it. It seemed like it would never end but soon enough Daryl found himself stumbling his way through the Concluding Rites.
The fresh air outside the church hit Daryl, Lily, Sophia and Carol in a refreshing wave and they all breathed out sighs of relief. The four moved around the side of the church to chatter, many of the church-attendees were gathered in small clusters, discussing the week's events.
Lily and Sophia started some nonsense game with each other and Daryl and Carol were left standing in the shade provided both by the side of the church and the rather large tree growing right next to it. Daryl kept his eyes on Carol, she was looking at the girls, who were running through the grass. It was then he noticed that she had a very nice smile, it was the kind of smile that you can tell is really genuine. You can always count on a person with a genuine kind of smile, he thought to himself. Just then she turned to him and sighed.
"I better get Sophia home soon, we might hit the road." Carol said, wrapping her arms around herself. Daryl nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, me 'nd Lily better get goin' too. Still got boxes all over the place." Daryl replied, he saw her face squish up in a sort of worrisome expression.
"You need any help?" She asked, turning fully to face him.
"Nah, just movin' boxes." He shrugged.
"Okay, but you need any help you just come over. I remember when me and Sophia moved, it was chaos. Trying to balance a kid and work and moving, it's harder than it looks," she chuckled. Daryl hadn't even thought about trying to balance work and Lily and moving until then. "So you need any help with anything, you just come across or send Lily across." Carol smiled kindly and Daryl felt his own lips twitching upward in an appreciative smile. They stayed smiling at each other for a few quiet moments.
"Well, uh, I'll let you get Sophia home, then." Daryl said after clearing his throat. Carol nodded.
"And I'll let you get back to Lily and your boxes." She waved and the two guardians collected up their respective children.
Lily and Sophia said goodbye and the two families turned toward their vehicles.
"It was nice seeing you again, Daryl." Carol waved and then most everyone jumped in their cars and dispersed into the streets.
Pajama clad Lily was lying on the sofa, her eyes felt heavy as she fought to keep them open. She was listening to Daryl talk on the phone, he was pacing around, listening rather intently to what the caller had to say, she heard her name get mentioned a few times but it was all rather dis-interesting so she took to closing her eyes and balling up on the sofa.
"Hey there, lil' brother!" Merle's voice crackled over the phone line, Merle hooted loudly.
" Hey, Merle." Daryl replied tersely. Since the whole Lily thing Daryl and Merle had been on some shaky ground and as much as Daryl felt bad for being angry at his brother, he felt pretty pissed about being landed with his kid.
"What's good?" Merle casually asked. Although Daryl knew Merle couldn't see him he shrugged.
"Just been movin' in." Was Daryl's clipped response. He heard Merle heave a sigh.
"Ya getting' settled in, eh?" Merle tried to keep a breezy tone, but it was evident he was becoming frustrated with his younger brother's curt responses. Daryl gave a quick 'mm-hm'.
"Well, how's… things?" Merle had been pretty reluctant to acknowledge Lily, not just in that particular phone call. But pretty much her existence as a whole.
"What sorta things?" Daryl coyly asked.
"Well uh… How's the kid?" Merle finally asked.
"Lily's fine, I guess. Quiet," Daryl began pacing the kitchen. "Ya could talk to 'er."
"Nah, I don't get too long on the phones over here, 's expensive as well." Merle chuckled without humor. Daryl peered around to see Lily falling asleep on the sofa.
"Gonna hafta go soon. Gotta tuck Lily in." Daryl said without thinking, Merle got a real hoot out of that. There was a good solid two minutes of laughter.
"Hahaha, tuck in, Jesus baby bro. Do ya check for the Boogie-Man and make sure there's no monsters in the closet?" Merle was having a real field day with it. Daryl decided he could handle no more of his brother's antics for the night.
"I gotta go." Daryl wished he could take back what he said about tucking in. He wished he could shove all his words back in his mouth.
"A'ight, a'ight. Hey come visit me sometime, yeah?" Merle sounded a bit hopeful. "Oh – One more thing 'fore I go!"
"Yeah?"
"Don't forget to check under the bed! There's some nasty-ass monst-"
Daryl hung up, he scooped Lily off the lounge as gently as he could and carried her toward her room. Flicking off the lights on the way out of the room, he carried her through the darkness and put her in bed.
A.N: Yeah... That happened. Sorry, a lot of this was speech and also it was just blegh, all over blegh. ._. But I wanted to put Merle in somewhere and I did it. I think I want more Merle in this fic, but I dunno. Things shall hopefully be getting a bit Carylyer next chapter though! (If things go to plan, that is!). I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Very, very big thank yous to these people: Vickih, Prodigium, lismrox, ferrisbueller, Guest, LopezG, Shaniqua Nunyadambidness, Tinkerbell99 and Dee. Thank you guys for the absolutely SPARKLING reviews on chapter 3.
Thanks to all the followers and those who added this to favorites: BrucieBaby, EmbraceYourFREAK, Kabrinastar, Lisab876, LucyC-96, MSHK, Prodigium, Writingismypassions, adelicateflower08, Crystal2817, ferrisbueller, hockeydrmr9, lismrox, melniewn, Pharmtechgrl71, protonefrid, texasbelle91, tyffany86, vickih, tessuhhh, mcmannusdixon, bearhead, Tinkerbell99, Shaniqua Nunyadambidness.
Thanks again, everybody. You all encourage me and make me feel happy :).