AN: Big thanks to everyone who has been following this story. Even bigger thanks to those who have reviewed. Your kind words make may day. You are all awesome. Read on!
Beth couldn't contain her laugh when she stepped into the room and saw Daryl and Carol in bed, both fast asleep and snoring, softly in her case, not so softly in his. Carol was lying on her back against the pillows, arms splayed out at her sides, her bare feet exposed as she had kicked them out from under the blankets. Daryl hadn't managed to stay awake long enough to even lie beside her, he was passed out across the foot of the bed, one arm thrown above his head, and the other stretched towards Carol, his hand on hers but not quite holding it. His legs were dangling over the side and one of Carol's feet had come to rest on his stomach. She couldn't help it, she laughed so hard that she nearly dropped the heavy tray of food she had carried up from the kitchen. The sound must have alarmed Daryl, he shot straight up, his eyes wide as she came into focus. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and it only made her laugh harder.
Daryl wasn't real good with getting woken up abruptly. He had once punched Merle in the nose for waking him from a deep sleep in the middle of the night just to ask for a cigarette. He narrowed his eyes at the blond girl. "What's so damn funny, kid?" he snapped.
Beth just brushed off his tone and stepped further into the room. She was used to him by now, they all were. "I'm not a kid, I'm going to be nineteen in two weeks. I didn't mean to laugh like that. Just the way you and Carol looked. It was cute. Also, your hair is all over the place." she said cheerfully as she placed the loaded tray on the desk.
Daryl softened a bit when he heard her explanation. She was a sweet kid and he couldn't ever really get mad at her. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame it before standing up and walking over to her. He could see that when she had been asked to bring them something to eat, she hadn't taken that lightly. She seemed to have put a little bit of everything they had on the tray, and for a second Daryl wanted to reach out and hug her. But she was looking at Carol, who was still sound asleep, with a nervous expression on her face.
"Daddy told me what was going on. How Carol thought she had cancer. I thought something was off with her lately, but I didn't say anything. I know she doesn't like people fussing over her. Is she really going to be okay?"
Daryl reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close for a second before releasing her. "As long as you keep feeding her like this, she's gonna be back in that kitchen helping you in no time."
She looked up at him and smiled, relief filling her blue eyes. "I'm so glad. I don't think I could stand to lose her. She's kind of been like a mama to me since everything happened. You know, teaching me how to do things and giving me advice. I could really use some right now, actually." she said, looking at him expectantly.
Daryl quickly looked down at his feet. "Um, yeah, I think you're gonna have to wait for her to wake up for that. I don't really think I'd have much to say on anything you might have to ask me, unless you wanna know about huntin' or cursin', in which case ask away."
She giggled. "Nope, I think I'm good on those two things. I'll leave the hunting up to you and if daddy heard me swearing like you he'd probably kick your butt with his good leg. My problem is more of a "girl problem". Its okay, I'll let you two be for now. I'll come back later to talk to her, if that's okay?"
"I'm not really sure if she's up to seeing anyone yet, but if she is I'll let everyone know. I'll bring all the dishes back down when she's done. I'll make sure to tell her you were asking about her though, it'll make her feel better."
Beth nodded in acknowledgement and shot Carol one last relieved look before making her way back out of the room. Daryl glanced at the window and saw a faint glow behind the heavy curtains. He must have gotten a few hours of sleep and he already felt better. Lighter. It was a new day.
Carol started to stir when he pulled back the curtain, flooding the room with the early morning light. She stretched out under the cover and yawned, her gaze falling upon him as he stood there, looking out the window with a thoughtful smile on his face. "Morning." she called out, pulling him from his thoughts and causing his smile to grow wider. He came to sit next to her on the bed, leaning down and kissing her softly.
"Morning yourself. How you feeling?"
She shrugged her shoulders and answered him honestly. "I feel a million times better, yet I still feel like shit, if that makes any sense."
Daryl smiled. "Course you feel like shit, you still need to get better. Thing is, now we know how to get you there."
She sat herself up in the bed as he walked over and retrieved the tray that Beth had brought for her. He placed it down on the bed in front of her, and smiled when she looked down at the huge amount of food and looked up at him with shock on her face. "I know that I need to eat, but I think if I eat even half of this, I'm going to explode."
He laughed as he sat back down on the bed. "Don't worry, it ain't all for you. I'm so hungry, I could eat at least half of the shit on that tray. But you are gonna eat as much as you can. Gotta get your strength back up. Now stop bitchin and pick up a fork. I don't wanna hear another word outta you until you're full." He picked up his own fork and didn't hesitate, grabbing a bowl of some kind of stew and digging in. He stopped when he saw that she wasn't doing the same, just sitting there, watching him with a small smile on her lips and a strange look in her eyes.
He chewed the bite in his mouth, swallowing it before speaking. "Whatcha lookin at?"
She quickly looked back down at the tray. "Nothing, it's just, I kind of like you like this. Bossy and demanding. It's kind of sexy, is all."
He nearly choked on the bite of food he had just put in his mouth. "Um, I ain't never been called sexy before. Kinda weird. If you like me being bossy though, I'll let you call it whatever you want. You start eating and maybe I'll boss you around some more later." he said teasingly.
It worked though, she picked up her fork and slowly started picking at a bowl of fruit. She chewed each bite carefully, stopping now and then to glance up at him, sometimes smiling, sometimes just watching him thoughtfully. He finally put his fork down, so stuffed that he didn't want to move. He looked down at the tray and saw that in addition to what he had eaten, she had managed to eat the bowl of fruit and most of a bowl of thick oatmeal. He wanted to tell her to eat more, but he realized that after how long she had been going without, eating what she had was a huge effort on her part. He cleaned up the dishes and set everything back down on the desk. When he turned back around, she was still watching him, smiling as he walked back over to her. He sat back down. "So, Beth was in here before, asking about you. Wanted to know if she could come by later to see you. Said she needed to ask you something. You feelin' up to seeing anyone yet."
She looked down for a moment before she responded. "We'll go back down later. As long as everyone knows that I'm alright, I think I'd just like to be alone a little while longer." She could see a look of disappointment flash across his face and she quickly corrected her statement. "I didn't mean alone, I meant alone with you. If that's okay? I know you probably have more important things to do."
He leaned forward and kissed her before she could say anymore. "You really don't get it, do you? Ain't nothing more important to me than you right now. You want me here, you got me."
She smiled sweetly, touched by his words. "Okay, I want you here then. So, since you're stuck with me for a while, what do you wanna do?"
A hundred different possibilities ran through his head, from leaning in and kissing her again, to taking her right here and now, not stopping until he had her screaming his name. But he pushed those thoughts aside, he could still see the bruises on her arms and though he had forgiven himself for putting them there, we wasn't real eager to give her anymore. He could wait until she was really feeling better before he even thought about touching her that way. He thought for a moment, and finally answered. "Um, I could take you down to the showers. I think we could both use one."
She looked down at herself, and looked back up at him, pretending to be offended. "Do I look that bad?"
He smiled when he realized she was joking. "No, you look great just like always, but I'm pretty sure I stink and I've been wearing these clothes for four days."
She scanned him up and down. "I hadn't noticed, all your clothes look the same. Ripped up jeans and sleeveless shirts. Do you even have any shirts with sleeves?" she said teasingly.
This was his Carol, teasing him with that silly sparkle in her eye. He teased her right back. "I don't know, I gotta check. I never heard you complain before, you seem to be real fond of lookin' at my arms. I noticed that shit a long time ago."
She blushed, slightly embarrassed. "Maybe I was looking. I just, I was always wondering how it would feel to be wrapped up in them. Didn't realize I was staring or anything."
He felt the heat rise in his own cheeks as he made his own confession. "I can't say anything. I used to watch your ass every time you'd leave a room."
Carol looked at him thoughtfully. "Huh, good to know. I'll have to remember that."
He suddenly stood up as that look came into her eyes, the one that made him almost instantly hard. He leaned down and kissed her softly, not wanting her to feel like he was rejecting her or anything. "Okay, I'm gonna run those dishes back down to Beth and I'll stop on the way back and grab us some clean clothes. You just sit there and wait, okay."
She nodded, a smile on her face as she watched him nervously grab the tray and look at her one last time as he left the room.
He made his way back down to the cell block, dropping the tray off with Beth. The rest of group was absent. Beth told him that Maggie and Glenn were out in the tower, Carl and Hershel were outside playing with Judith, and that Rick, Michonne, and Eric had made a run into a nearby town, searching for extra food and all of the supplements that they needed for Carol. He thanked her again for the food and told her that Carol would probably be up to coming down and seeing everyone later. She smiled and returned to her work and he quickly made his way back up to his perch. He dug through his bag, grabbing the first things he found. When he entered her cell, it was a different story. He carefully looked through her things, trying to find something that looked comfortable. He settled on a dark red dress, a knee length strappy thing that was as soft as a worn out tee shirt. He had never seen her wear it before, probably because she had been so worried about hiding her body. But it was too damn hot already, and she didn't have any reason to keep hiding herself away under long sleeves and jeans. He silently admitted to himself that he also just wanted to see her wearing something pretty. He folded the dress neatly and grabbed a pair of black flip flops and the small bag that contained her few personal items. He was just about to leave when he realized he hadn't grabbed her any underwear. He looked around until he found another small bag of her clothes. He blushed as red as her dress when he saw that the bag was full of small, lacy things, in all different colors and styles. He could picture her in each one as he pulled it from the bag and it just made his hard on return with a vengeance. He shook the thoughts away as he grabbed the first red things he saw and shoved the rest back in the bag. "Knock it off Dixon, she ain't ready for that yet. You're just gonna take a shower. That's all. There'll be plenty of time for that later. Just control yourself, you asshole." he thought to himself as he collected all of her things and made his way out of the cell. He walked slowly back to the office where she was waiting for him, trying to get it together. But when he finally reached the room, he opened the door, and when he saw her, he just couldn't help himself. There was only one thought in his mind and he knew that he couldn't hesitate. He had to do this now.
So, another little cliffhanger for you all. I'm mean, I know. Hope you enjoyed that chapter, it was nice to be able to write something a bit lighter after all the drama of the last few chapters. I'm not really sure yet if there will be one or two more chapters to this. I keep trying to wind it down and keep finding more words coming out. But with any luck, I should have a chapter out to you all by tomorrow. Thanks for reading and pretty, pretty please, review! I really love hearing what you think. I'm a great big ball of insecurity and every little bit of input helps.
xoxoxo Bekah xoxoxo