(Chapter for Haughtystalk).
Chapter 7:
Daryl leaned on the kitchen counter morning light streamed through the open window and illuminated the kitchen. Daryl much preferred natural light over turning on actual lights or lamps and the summer sun never failed to light up the house. Lily sat on her knees at a chair by the dining table, a crayon in one hand and her coloring book in front of her, the day was shaping out like any other; the air was humid and heavy and the sun was glaring down at them. Lily pushed aside her coloring book to make room for the bowl of cereal Daryl was bringing to the table for her. He placed it in front of her before taking his own seat across from her.
"Any plans fer the day?" Daryl asked around a mouthful of coffee. He was getting in the habit of finding out what Lily had in store for him. She just shook her head.
"Prob'ly just play with Sophia or something." She answered as she munched on her cereal. Daryl nodded at that and placed his coffee mug on the table with a soft thud. The two settled into a comfortable silence for a few moments. Daryl sighed and slouched in his seat, he felt tired and the day was only just starting, it was a feeling he was getting used to though. Daryl straightened up in his seat and his ears perked up when he heard knocking on the door.
"Comin'!" Daryl called, unenthusiastically pulling himself from his seat and heading toward the front door with Lily in tow. He knew it would probably just be Carol and Sophia so he didn't make any great rush to get to the door. When Daryl opened the door, he was surprised to see it wasn't Carol or Sophia.
Standing on the front porch was a young woman with dark haired woman with dreads . Daryl noticed she was also balancing a fussy toddler on her hip. Daryl expected no such company and he momentarily wondered if perhaps she had stumbled upon the wrong address. The only people that ever came over were Sophia and Carol. He stared at the woman and toddler for a moment, Lily hid behind Daryl but made some faces at the toddler.
"Hi, I'm Michonne," the woman introduced herself, the toddler started giggling, "and this is Andre, we live just up the street." Michonne finished. Okay, great. What are you doing at my house? Daryl thought to himself. Michonne took his silence as her cue to keep talking. "We're having a get together tonight, a party of sorts, I'm inviting pretty much the whole street and I thought you might like to come."
Daryl didn't know what to say to that one, he wasn't the most sociable of types and he knew he probably wouldn't go. The lady told him which house she was at and what time it would be around, Daryl told her he'd try to stop by although he didn't think he'd go. He was about to shut the door when he saw Sophia and Carol coming up the pathway that lead to his front door.
"Uh, good morning, Mr Dixon." Sophia said in a small voice, she looked at her sneakers and only glanced up through her eye lashes.
"Mornin'. You lookin' fer Lily?" Daryl asked, Sophia nodded and looked past Daryl to Lily. Daryl decided he'd invite Carol in for something to drink and scoot out of Lily and Sophia's way, let them do their own thing.
Lily led Sophia through the side-gate to the back yard, where they usually played together. The overgrown grass had still not been mowed and it tickled Lily and Sophia's legs as they walked. Lily found a shady spot under a large tree to sit and she sat cross legged on the grass, Sophia quickly followed suit.
"What should we play?" Lily asked, her eyes scanning across the yard for something to do. Lily didn't have any toys in her yard; no swings or see-saws or slides. The only thing she had was overgrown grass, a crap ton of space, garden beds full of dead flowers and a lot of trees.
"We could play tag, but it's kinda hot for running." Sophia chimed in. She plucked a handful of grass from the lawn and shredded it. Lily did the same, she dusted her hands off and the shredded grass flittered to the ground.
"Yeah. Hey, we could do some gardening." Lily suggested,glancing toward the lackluster garden beds and changing position so she was lying on her stomach, facing Sophia. She swung her legs back and forth as she thought.
"Yeah! We could fix up the garden beds!" Sophia agreed, nodding her head and smiling brightly. Sophia loved to garden and had a very nice garden in her own yard. Sophia's mother did most of the gardening though because as much as Sophia enjoyed gardening, she had no clue what she was doing most the time.
"Alright! Let's go. I know there are garden tools in the shed and we'll need lots of water to grow the plants, so we'll need the hose." Lily jumped to her feet and dusted any grass or dirt off of herself, Sophia jumped up next to her.
"We don't have any seeds to plant, though." Sophia said, following Lily to the shed. Lily thought about this for a moment, she needed a place to get seeds and she knew Daryl certainly didn't leave flower seeds lying around the house.
"We could just take seeds out of the fruit in the kitchen. I bet that would work fine." Lily shrugged, Sophia nodded in agreement and the two girls set off to find the necessary tools to garden.
Daryl and Carol sat at the kitchen counter. Outside they could hear the girls chattering away and every now and then a muffled crashing or thumping sound followed by giggles. Carol sipped tentatively at her coffee and placed her mug on the table for a moment.
"So, are you going to Michonne's tonight?" She asked. Michonne was a good neighbour and friend to Carol, they'd known each other for quite a while and Carol always enjoyed going to one of Michonne's summer parties. Daryl mulled it over for a moment.
"Dunno yet, thinkin' 'bout it," he replied. Carol nodded. "You gonna go?" He wondered. He thought that just maybe if Carol went, he might go. He didn't want to go if he didn't know anyone, the idea of being crammed into a yard in the middle of summer with a bunch of strangers didn't appeal to him.
"Yeah, Michonne always does a little get together around this time of year. Me and Sophia always go. They're really cool." Carol smiled brightly, it was that nice genuine smile that Daryl really liked and he couldn't help but smile a little himself.
"I might just have to swing by then." Daryl said, shifting a little in his seat so he was sitting more upright.
"You should! It's always so much fun." Carol encouraged him. She knew he didn't really like being around people and he practically radiated socially awkward, but she thought it would be a nice way to get to spend some time with him outside of discussing Lily and Sophia. "She always has something set up for the kids to do and then things for the grown-ups to do." Carol explained. Daryl nodded. Just then, the back door swung open and the girls whizzed into the kitchen. Lily grabbed a few apples and threw some other fruits to Sophia. Daryl and Carol raised their eyebrows.
"Notimetoexplain!" Lily and Sophia hurriedly shouted and rushed back out the door, letting it slam behind them. Carol and Daryl looked at each other with confused expressions.
"That wasn't at all suspicious." Carol said sarcastically, blinking a few times in confusion.
"Not at all." Daryl mumbled in agreement. The two adults continued to chatter away about nothing in particular, neither Daryl or Carol seemed to mind the constant change in conversation or the occasional silences. Carol thought that Daryl was very easy to talk to, and very good at listening as well. It was nice to talk to someone who understood what you were trying to say, Carol was really hoping he would go to Michonne's so they could talk more. The pair didn't even realize how late it had gotten or how long they'd been talking until the light filling the kitchen had significantly dimmed to an orange glow. Carol glanced at her wrist watch and realized she'd have to be leaving for Michonne's soon.
"Oh! Look at the time! I didn't even realize how late it was. I better get going." Carol got up from her seat and headed out to collect Sophia. Daryl followed her to the yard.
"Ho-lee-shit." Daryl muttered more to himself than anyone else. Carol nodded.
"Exactly what I was thinking." Carol mumbled in return, her gaze also fixed on the two mud-covered girls. Sophia and Lily had practically torn the garden apart beyond recognition; dead leaves and crushed sticks and branches lay scattered in unorganized piles, everything was covered in mud – the girls included – and it looked like they had smashed up all the fruit and buried it in shallow holes in the garden beds.
"We're gardeners." Lily stated matter-of-factually, Sophia bobbed her head in agreement and picked some mud out of her hair. The two girls fell into hysterics and couldn't stop giggling. Daryl and Carol were lost for words.
"Is it time to go?" Sophia asked her Mom. Carol nodded and Sophia's face fell. Lily assured Sophia she could come over another day and they could finish the garden together. The two girls skipped around through the side gate together and waited on the front lawn for Carol and Daryl, who stayed behind in the yard.
"Sorry about your garden." Carol surveyed the immediate area, taking in the wreckage. Daryl honestly didn't seem to care at all and shrugged, he didn't even give the yard a second glance.
"Was just dirt, now 's just mud. It'll dry, I'll hose it away." He almost wanted to laugh, the garden was probably actually looking in better shape than it was before the girls got to it. Carol couldn't believe Daryl's level of calmness, she would have been so sad if something happened to her garden. "Lily's probably gonna be harder to get clean than the garden." Daryl admitted with a chuckle.
"Yeah, getting mud out of Sophia's hair is going to be really hard." Carol giggled and brought her hand to her mouth to quiet her laughter and cover her smile. Daryl didn't like when she did that, he liked it when she smiled and he didn't like her covering it up. He instantly kicked himself for thinking something so… Mushy.
"Sorry 'bout your daughter's hair." Daryl said as he and Carol began walking toward the side gate.
"Don't be. Little dirt never hurt." Carol said in a sing-song voice. She and Daryl walked the remaining distance to the front lawn and Sophia and Lily went to their respective guardians. The four stood at the edge of the lawn and said their goodbyes, Carol couldn't help but think about how long it was going to take to get Sophia clean for Michonne's party that night.
"Well, uh… see ya." Daryl said to Carol. Carol nodded and wrapped her arm around Sophia, drawing the girl closer. Carol looked at Daryl for a few seconds.
"Um, Daryl," Carol began, catching Daryl's attention. "I hope you come to Michonne's tonight, I mean… I'd very much like to see you there." Carol finished, she could feel the tips of her ears burning and she didn't know why. Daryl swallowed and nodded and Carol said a final good evening before she and Sophia retreated to their home across the road. Daryl turned to Lily and sighed.
"Go on and get cleaned up, get some clean clothes on, do yer hair, make yaself all nice." Daryl instructed the youngster. She furrowed her brow.
"Why?" She wandered. Daryl heaved another sigh.
"We're goin' to a party."
A.N: Okay, whew. Chapter seven. I want to apologize for the lack of updating, I'm very sorry and I hope I haven't discouraged any of you guys from reading. I update when I can, but school is back and it's kicking my butt. This chapter is a little... lacking something. I dunno, I had fun writing it so I hope you have fun reading it. It's not very great, sorry again, I think I'm getting rusty, be gentle.
Chapter six got some super nice reviews, so thank you very much to: Mione788, pharmtechgrl71, vickih, Guest, Laurie, crazstiz, Prodigium, Lismrox and Zombieslayer5. Ya'll are so nice.
Oh, also, a guest by the name of Laurie asked about what Carol and Daryl do for work! I'm sorry it's not in the fic, I promise work will come into things but for the moment, I like to imagine that Carol would take some time off to spend with Sophia and I imagine Daryl would take time off as well so he could get to know Lily. Cop out explanation, I know, but trust me they'll be back to work soon enough! Sorry I haven't included it yet and thank you, Laurie, for the question.
Another reviewer, Crazstiz, asked if Lily was going to see Merle any time soon. I am currently thinking about how I will bring him into things, how much of a chapter I should dedicate to such an affair, etc, etc. If anyone has anything they'd like to see I'd really love for ya'll to give me a shout.
Sorry for the long A.N and kinda sucky-but-fun-too-write chapter. Next chapter: Michonne's party!
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