"Come on, Mom!" Sophia called as she danced across the lawn, her dress twirling this way and that with her movements and the ribbon in her hair flittering with the breeze. Carol gently removed her key from the lock on the front door. She fell into a light jog until she met Sophia at the edge of the lawn. "You took forever!" Sophia groaned, flailing her arms in the air to make a point. Carol shook her head and giggled. She and Sophia began walking toward Michonne's house, casting long shadows as they walked.
They padded across the soft, green grass of the lawn toward the house and Sophia cheerfully bounced up the stairs on the front porch before ringing the bell. Carol quickly joined her daughter on the porch and they waited a few moments, Michonne quickly appeared at the door.
"Come in, come in!" Michonne greeted the two, stepping to the side so they could enter the house. As soon as Carol stepped into the foyer she could hear the music being emitted from the back yard, she estimated that its volume would rise as the night wore on. Michonne bent down to become eye level with Sophia. "I've got the kid's stuff set up just down the hall in the sitting room, none of the other kids are here yet but if I were you, I'd be getting first dibs on the T.V. and candy." She advised. Sophia looked at her mother for permission and when Carol nodded Sophia bounced off down the hallway, leaving her mother and Michonne alone.
"Do you still need any help with setting up or anything?" Carol offered, she was always ready to lend a helping hand.
"No, no. We just have to wait for everyone to arrive now."
He tried to remember who had talked him into this. Had it been Carol or himself? Either way, Daryl Dixon found himself attending a party. He hated parties, they were too loud and they always ran too long. He estimated that Michonne's party would be tamer than any other he had attended. The last party Daryl went to was with his older brother and he had only gone because he knew Merle would need a ride home. He was jerked from his thoughts when he heard Lily's voice.
"I didn't know you owned anything with sleeves." She said, nodding her head toward the flannel shirt Daryl had changed into several minutes ago. Daryl shrugged and stood up from his seat on the sofa. He and Lily exited the house and began walking down the street together. "Seriously, what's with the sleeves? You look like a lumber jack." She said, quirking her brow. Daryl glanced down at Lily from the corner of his eye and gave her a tired expression which caused her to fall into a fit of hysterical giggles. She didn't seem to care so much about her question anymore. She suddenly stopped laughing and her head snapped up to view the house they were standing in front of. "Is this the house!?" She asked with her voice full of excitement and her eyes wide. Daryl nodded and Lily sprinted across the lawn and waited for Daryl on the porch, he trailed along after her and quickly came to join her. Lily pressed the doorbell two times. then they waited.
"Daryl! So glad you could make it, come in." The woman who had earlier stood on Daryl's front porch had opened the door. She smiled at Lily and stepped to the side so her guests could enter. Daryl shuffled awkwardly on the spot and Lily stood next to him doing the same thing. A familiar face peeked around the corner and Lily smiled, it was Sophia.
"Lily! Come on, there's heaps of games up this a' ways." Sophia beamed, grabbing her friend's arms. She suddenly became aware of Daryl's presence. "Oh, h-hi, Mister Dixon, my Momma was looking for you before," Sophia waited for him to respond but he just nodded. "I like your sleeves, by the way." Sophia finished before whizzing off with Lily. Daryl shook his head but couldn't help smiling.
"Everyone else is out in the back yard," Michonne said, pointing toward the direction of the back door. Daryl muttered some quick thanks and walked off toward the yard.
Carol reclined back in the lawn chair, she wasn't really counting on Daryl coming, but she sort of hoped he'd show up. Most the other guests had arrived and the once-empty yard now housed a rather thick crowd. Carol looked up at the stars and closed her eyes for a moment, it wasn't even late yet and she was already tired. She heard someone pull up a seat next to her and cracked an eye to see who it was.
"Daryl! You came!" She suddenly felt a bit livelier and sat up in her seat. She immediately mentally chided herself for sounding like some overly-attached weirdo. "I uh, I'm glad you decided to come." She nodded, folding her hands in her lap.
"Yeah well, said I'd try 'nd stop by." He shrugged, he was a squirmy kinda guy and didn't sit still in his seat. He didn't like being around people, especially people he didn't know. They all seemed to be looking at him and it made him fidgety. He didn't know if he and Carol were supposed to make conversation or not but she seemed comfortable to sit in silence and he was okay with that, he didn't really do the small talk thing very well anyways. He was okay to just sit there with her, sometimes he would look at her and sometimes he would just people watch and see what other people were doing. Carol would occasionally say something and then take a sip from the glass of wine Michonne had insisted she have and he would say something in return and that would be enough.
"Oh my gosh, Carol!" Someone called. Daryl's gaze snapped away from Carol to see a woman leading what looked like her husband or boyfriend through the crowd and toward them. Carol smiled brightly at the two approaching people.
"Lori! It's been too long!" She jumped up to hug the woman before sitting down. The man with Lori pulled a few lawn chairs around so he and Lori could sit as well.
"I know, like, a whole month without seeing you! We need to get together sometime!" Lori grinned, Carol nodded in agreement. Lori's eyes flicked to Daryl, who was quietly observing the scene. "Who's this?" Lori leaned in and took her voice down.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce everyone. Lori, Rick, this is my friend Daryl. Daryl, these are my friends Lori and Rick." Carol introduced everyone to each other and Rick shook Daryl's hand, some of the awkwardness almost seemed to dissolve from the situation. Everyone mumbled pleasantries; 'good to meet you' and 'how do you do' before conversation moved along.
"So, how long have you and Daryl been dating?" Lori asked, her gaze flickering between the two. Carol couldn't believe Lori thought they were dating. Daryl looked equally surprised, his eyes were damn near exploding out of his head. Carol liked Daryl, he was nice and all, definitely very caring and sweet, good looking no doubt, but dating him. Uh-uh, she hadn't dated in a long time, she chose instead to focus on being a good Mom to Sophia, and she was sure Daryl had his hands full with Lily. He'd never want to date her… right?
"We're just friends." Carol nervously chuckled, Daryl bobbed his head in agreement. He knew he would always remain just a friend with Carol, he was sure she barely even paid him any mind.
"Oh, sorry about that. You guys just looked really… " Lori trailed off. Daryl wanted to tell Lori to finish her sentence, but just sat quietly beside Carol. "Anyway, how have you been lately?" Lori asked. And then conversation just drifted away to other things like work and house payments and all those conversational topics that aren't always particularly fun, but fill the silence. Daryl and Rick quietly observed the chattering women and occasionally exchanged small comments. Rick would say something and Daryl would agree and they'd go back and forward like that for a time before settling back into silence.
"Well, we'd better be off, see you later, Carol!" Lori called, standing from her seat. "Come on, Rick!" She tugged her husband away from his seat. Daryl gave an almost sympathetic look toward Rick, poor guy. He quickly returned his attention to Carol. She was still chuckling to herself about something Lori had said. She glanced down at her wrist watch.
"It's getting late." She announced. Daryl looked around and noticed that most of the crowd had thinned out at this point, there were a few late-stayers, it looked like Lori and Rick were on their way out too. "I think I should get going." Carol said, Daryl grunted as means of reply before standing. He helped Carol out of her seat and the two began walking toward the house to collect Sophia and Lily.
The two girls apparently weren't tired because they were giggling and leaping around the room when Daryl and Carol got there.
"We going now?" Lily stopped running around long enough to look at Daryl, who nodded. Carol held out her hand for Sophia and the girl quickly ran to her mother. Lily stood next to Daryl and the four made their way out of the house. They thanked Michonne for having them, and said it was a very nice party. They walked toward their houses together in a small group.
"Daryl, I'm hungry." Lily said, she'd already eaten a ton of junk at Michonne's, but she was still really hungry. Lily was always hungry. Daryl could go for something to eat, even though it was the middle of the night.
"Prolly be a fast food joint open." Daryl offered, and Lily excitedly bounced around. Daryl glanced at Carol out of the corner of his eye. "You and Sophia wanna tag along?" He asked. Sophia nodded up at her mother and Carol nodded.
"If it's not any trouble." She said and Daryl shook his head. They all walked to Carol's house and then climbed into her car.
It was late, Daryl guessed around two in the morning, there was virtually no traffic on the road and almost every store was closed. They found a crappy convenience store though, and it was open. The bright neon light reading 'open' glowed and Daryl could hear the light buzzing. He tried not to pay much mind to it as he leaned against the wall. Carol leaned on the wall beside him and they watched the girls, who sat on the hood of the car eating the greasy food which they had bought. Carol smiled and shut her eyes for a moment.
"Tired?" Daryl asked her. She nodded.
"A little, not too much though. You?" She replied. She opened her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. Daryl just shook his head.
"Nope," He replied curtly. "I'll drive home, if you're too tired." He offered.
"Thanks, Daryl." She thanked him. He wasn't having it, though. He just looked at the ground and scuffed his feet like he always did whenever people said thanks.
"S'okay. Ain't nothing." He mumbled as he hid behind his hair. Carol wanted to say it wasn't nothing and that it was very nice of him, but she knew Daryl wasn't very good at accepting thank yous, so she didn't push it. She just enjoyed the silence and watching the girls.
Soon enough they all climbed into the car, the girls in the backseat and the adults up front, Daryl drove. Carol felt herself falling asleep in the car the second she sat down, and she could tell the girls were falling asleep too. Daryl was of course not tired. She blinked a few times and forced herself to stay awake until they pulled up in her driveway. She scooped up Sophia from the backseat and Daryl did the same with Lily.
"Goodnight, Daryl." Carol said, suppressing a yawn. Daryl nodded his head in return and he and Lily disappeared across the street. Carol carried Sophia through the house and put her in her bed, she was already asleep and showing no signs of waking up so Carol left. She changed into pajamas and climbed into her own bed, as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
A.N: Crap chapter, I know. Apologizing right here right now for 1. Not updating sooner and 2. The dodgy update. So yeah, that happened. I'm sorry these chapters are all kinda just filler, I don't want to rush Caryl, and I'm trying to keep it going at a steady pace. (I feel I am failing this, though). Anyway, I'm being held hostage by plot bunnies and next chapter should be a little better. Well... Hopefully. Again, sorry this chapter was really... dull?
Lots of thanks to the people who left me lovely reviews on chapter seven: lismrox, vickih, Prodigium, Dixonrocks, zombieslayer5 and green angel01.
I am very grateful that all these lovely follows/favorites: BrucieBaby, Creed757, Dixonrocks, EmbraceYourFREAK, Kabrinastar, Lisab875, LucyC-96, MSHK, Mione788, Mrs. EmilySalvatore, Prodigium, Shaniqua Nunyadamnbidness, Stacey73, TWDHGfan,Tinkerbell99, Writingismypassions, adelicateflower08, bearhead, Crystal2817, ferrisbueller, green angel01, hockeydrmr9, lilhanna, lismrox, liveinadive, mcmannusdixon, melniewn, naenurse, nanashipsCARYL, pharmtechgrl71, protonefrid, smolderhalderxo, texasbelle91, tyffany86, vickih, wandwaving, wolfie22, Ms. Womack, cthammons, tessuhhh and Zombieslayer5.