Carol stretched out in her new bed and realized right away that Vinnie had provided some high quality sheets. She decided it was certainly worth paying a little more for the bed to buy it from him. She didn't always sleep naked. More often than not she wore pajamas, especially in the winter months when it was chilly outside. She loved her big warm flannel jammies. But she couldn't deny how good it felt to be nude and enjoy the feel of the cotton on her skin and the complete freedom. The only problem was… being naked in bed always seemed to increase her libedo. And she was already trying to deal with the fire that was lit during their little game of twister.

Carol closed her eyes and tried to ignore the desire to touch herself. There was absolutely no reason that she couldn't give herself pleasure. But it just felt… a bit too desperate or something, to have no control over her urges. She wondered how far Daryl had got in the script, or if he'd even started it yet. He had a massive hard on when he left her and she had no doubt he'd be taking care of it. Shit, she thought. He was right across the hall and was likely jerking off. How was she supposed to sleep with that image lingering in her mind? She didn't know what he looked like completely naked, but she had a wonderful imagination.

Finally she decided to just give in. Was it wrong to use thoughts of Daryl to get off? If he knew she would never live it down. But what he didn't know wouldn't hurt… either of them. She spread her hands out over her stomach and moved up to fondle her breasts. Her nipples were sensitive from being so aroused and she couldn't hold back the sigh as she pinched and rolled them lightly. Carol let one hand wandered down her body, while the other continued to play with a breast.

It was second nature. Carol knew what she liked and how to pleasure herself, with or without toys. But as she found the sweet spot and started to rub slow circles, picturing Daryl moving his fist up and down his shaft, she wondered if maybe she would prefer to dig out the vibrator. She was very aroused though and torn between wanting the bullet and not wanting to stop doing what was already feeling so incredible.

She let her fingers move lower and felt how wet she was, then slipped 2 fingers inside, lifting her hips and grinding slowly against her own hand. She was still considering grabbing the toy when she heard a wrap on the door. Before she even had a chance to remove her fingers Daryl came waltzing in. "Hey, I hope I didn't wake you, but I have a question," he announced, plopping down on the edge of the bed.

Her heart was pounding and she was pretty sure her fucking jaw was hanging open, yet she couldn't seem to formulate words or even get her mouth to close. Her goddam fingers were in her vagina and Daryl was perched less than a foot away. Carol slowly attempted to remove them without drawing attention to where her hand was under the blankets. She also tried to ignore the fact that he was once again shirtless, wearing nothing but his freaking underwear.

Daryl turned to flip on the lamp and she quickly got her hands into the safe zone before he turned back. "To figure out the best advice I gotta know what you're wearing in these scenes. Have you talked to wardrobe about that yet? About how you're gonna be discreet during the scenes?"

"You came barging in here to ask just exactly how nude I'm gonna be?" Carol said, gaping at him. How fucking ironic was that?

"It's important," he replied, looking slightly offended by her tone. "I'm trying to help you. I need

the details."

And there it was… that look, followed by her feeling like shit for being irritated. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I don't know for sure yet. But I can text wardrobe in the morning and see if she can give me an idea of why I'll be wearing."

"And him," Daryl interrupted. Carol gave him a look. "Do you want to be prepared or not? Makes a difference if he's gonna be covered enough to keep on his underwear or if he'll be tucking his junk in a sock."

"Oh God…" her face was burning at the thought of her co-star wearing nothing but a damn sock.

"It's okay, I'm gonna help you be ready for this," Daryl said with a smile. "I just need the details first. I'll let you sleep now, sorry for barging in." He turned to shut the lamp off. "Damn, I turned it the wrong way… here can you hold this," he held out the script. Carol hesitated and he gave her a strange look, which slowly turned to a smile and she carefully pulled one bare arm out from under the covers, keeping them tucked tightly to hide her boobs. "You're naked under there aren't you?" he asked, handing her the script.

"You think I was lying when I told you I sleep naked?" she sassed him back.

"Actually, I did… this is an interesting development." he mumbled, his eyes trailing down the shape of her body under the covers. "Where's your other hand?" he asked, smirking again.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Carol replied, pushing up the blankets where her hand was now resting on her stomach. "Can we sleep now?"

"I suppose," Daryl agreed. He turned the lamp off and the room was dark again, except for the little bit of light creeping in from the hallway. Carol handed him back the script.

"Night," she said, watching him walk towards the door.

"Sweet dreams," Daryl replied, stopping in the doorway. He rubbed his hands over his chest and moved them down until the tips of his fingers were just inside the waistband of the boxers. "It's okay if you want to think of me tonight," he teased.

"Get out," Carol said with a laugh. She'd realized as of late there was a lot of Merle hiding inside of Daryl that was finally coming out. The flirting, the confidence, the charm… it was probably there all along, but now that Daryl had really made something of himself and put the tragedies of his childhood behind him… now that he had a taste of success and felt the love of not only friends and family, but strangers… it had allowed him to be confident and be proud of himself. The insecurities were still there, Carol knew that, and when he got quiet and shy sometimes she knew what he was thinking, but it was really good to see how far he'd come.

"Okay… I'm going…" Daryl replied, turning and bending slightly, then seductively rubbing a butt cheek.

"You're such an ass," Carol said. "Go to bed."

Daryl laughed and left, pulling the door closed behind him. Finally she felt like she could breathe again. Carol let out a long deep breath and decided that his intrusion was a sign that she needed to keep her hands far away from her nether regions and go the fuck to sleep. It didn't stop her from letting her mind appreciate his sexy form one last time before she nodded off.

The next morning Carol was up, showered and dressed, all set to head out and shop for groceries as soon as Daryl was ready. While she was waiting she sent a quick embarrassing text to the wardrobe lady for the movie and drank her morning coffee. When he still hadn't appeared almost an hour later she was starting to get impatient. She decided to kill some time wandering around the house, checking out photos on the wall, nick nacks on the mantle and the view from the balcony door.

When she couldn't stand it anymore she tromped down the hall and banged on his bedroom door. "Let's go Sunshine, you promised to take me grocery shopping."

Daryl appeared at the door with a towel around his waist, a toothbrush stuck in his mouth, damp wispy hair and a laptop. "Here yuu oo," he mumbled handing her the computer. "Fresh direct," he added, pulling out the brush so she could understand him. "It's in my Chrome bookmarks. Go ahead - grocery shop. I'll be out soon." With that he closed the door.

"What the actual fuck?" Carol muttered out loud. "Fresh direct?" She took the laptop out to the kitchen and booted it up. "Online grocery shopping? You have got to be kidding me. Who does that?"

"Lots of people," Daryl answered her rambling as he walked into the kitchen.

"But I don't want to shop online," Carol replied, it sounded really whiney but she didn't care. "Can't we go to the supermarket?"

"The Supermarket?" Daryl snorted. "Baby, you're not in Newnan anymore." What the hell is he talking about, Carol wondered. "We don't have big supermarkets in Manhattan," he explained. "There are grocery stores, but the selection is limited and they're always crowded. And sometimes there are cats in the aisles and they rub my legs and I get all sneezy for two days."

"Cats… in the grocery store?" Carol was baffled. "Isn't that like… against health regulations or something?"

"Probably," he nodded. "But I don't know about you… I prefer cats to rats..."

"Oh… yeah…" she agreed. "Well, Fresh Direct it is. How soon do they deliver?"

"Pay the extra fee and they'll be here within a couple hours or you can select a delivery time for tomorrow," he replied. "I'll be home all morning if you want to just have them come then."

"This is so weird," she said, looking at the screen and starting her first trip to the virtual grocery store. Within a few minutes she was actually kinda enjoying herself as Daryl watched her in amusement. "This isn't all bad," she announced. "But I do kinda miss picking out my produce."

"You miss squeezing melons?" Daryl asked. "Not too firm, not too squishy," he added, making a grasping gesture with his hands.

Carol ignored him. "Okay, all done," she announced. "I used your card on file, but I'll pay next time." She closed the laptop. "Should be here at 11am tomorrow." She stood up. "Now where are you taking me? Since I'm all ready to go somewhere."

Daryl shrugged, "Wanna walk or drive?"

"Hmm… maybe drive," she decided, thinking of how cold it was out there and how difficult it was to get anywhere with Daryl being stopped every 3 seconds for photos. It was absolutely the right call. Carol had such an amazing time spending almost the entire day seeing all the boroughs. Daryl knew so much about the history of the city and had cute stories about different places that he showed her. They had an early lunch at an amazing little Italian restaurant in Queens and picked up Sushi for supper at Daryl's favourite restaurant in the Bronx. Carol actually giggled when he suggested Sushi, thinking back to the early days when he swore he would never eat sushi - EVER. The sun was setting by the time they returned to the apartment.

"Holy crap, we drove around for 7 hours," she said with a smile as they walked inside. "And it feels like we just left." She couldn't believe how fast the day flew by.

"Come on, you gotta try this sushi," Daryl said, pulling out all the containers and spreading them around the table. "I swear to God, it's fucking orgasmic." This time she couldn't hold back the snort. "Shut up… my food choices have evolved."

Carol took the chopsticks he handed her and sat down. He was right, it was the best sushi she'd ever eaten. Even when she was sure she couldn't eat another bite she had to have one more roll. Stuffed, she watched Daryl still poking more food in his mouth. The man could eat, that was for sure. She realized she hadn't looked at her phone all day and pulled it out to see if wardrobe had replied. She had a few other text messages, but opened the one she was looking for first. "Oh God," she hissed, reading the text. She looked up at Daryl, horrified. "It's the sock… the damn sock."

She could tell he was struggling to keep a straight face. "I suspected that, reading the script…"

"But it gets worse," she said, feeling the panic starting to build. "I have to wear… a thong."

"Oh God, not a thong," he teased. "Shit, sorry, I said I wouldn't do that… but you should see your face." Carol felt her mouth twitching and it was her turn to fight off the smile. "Just relax. You have a beautiful ass. It's gonna be just fine, I promise."

"You've never seen my ass, how would you know?" Carol replied with a pout.

"Oh believe me, I may never have seen your ass naked, but I've looked at it enough over the years to know it's a great ass," he said, popping another bite of sushi in his mouth. She smiled at his honesty, feeling flattered. "How about those boobs?"

"Covered," she said with relief. At least there was one bit of good news from wardrobe.

"See, it's not as bad as you thought," he replied. "Good news for you and bad news for every woman loving man on the planet." He bit his lip. "So I've been thinking…" The lip bite threw her off because it was something he used to do when he was unsure of what he was about to say.

"Uh oh…" Carol said, legitimately nervous of where he was headed.

"I think it might help you if we rehearsed the scene a few times tonight," he said. Carol stared at him. He was dead serious.

"Rehearsed… a love scene… with you?" she said slowly. Daryl nodded. "Umm… no."

"What? Why not?" he looked wounded.

"Daryl... you read the scene… it's intense…" Carol started.

"Yep, and we are both professionals. It's a role. When you become Angela and I become Davis… it's about the characters, you know that," he tried to rationalize with her. "If you rehearse the scene with me and get really comfortable with it and what's required of you, it will be so much easier when you have to do it on set." His words made sense… but Carol just couldn't imagine acting out that scene with him. She couldn't imagine acting it out with anyone, but Daryl… he was her friend… her close friend. "Do you trust me?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and gazing at her intently. Dammit, that look…

"You know I do," Carol sighed.

"Then do this with me," he said, reaching forward and taking one of her hands in his. "Let me help you."

She couldn't believe what was happening but Carol found herself nodding. She did trust him and decided it was worth a try. It couldn't possibly make her feel any worse about the scene. "Okay, but… I'm gonna need wine for this," she said, giving him a little smile. "Lots and lots of wine."