Chapter 3! Lots of thoughts from the both of them in this one. Please enjoy & review. I thank you one and all for sticking with me so far. Kat
Once Daryl had an idea in his head he was usually determined to make it happen the way he envisioned it. Training with Carol, however didn't go as planned. At first there were delays. Everyone was put in an uneasy state by Andrea and Michonne taking off. No one directly took it out on him or Carol, but she seemed to be putting a huge effort forth to keep everyone in the group satiated. He was hardly able to get a word in edgewise with her and it almost seemed to him like either the group itself was working to keep him away from her – or she was making it that way.
He couldn't be sure and it only confused him further when he felt the need to carry his mattress out into the garage rather than sleep in the cozy nook he'd been keeping to the entire winter. He'd been making his bed on the couch ever since the night he'd stumbled in drunk before their mall run, his thoughts never far from where she lay on the other side of it on her mattress.
It looked like Lori might get her way persuading Rick to drag his feet on getting to the prison. They needed more time to form a solid plan, another scouting mission to the place and when he finally relayed his thoughts to Rick on the matter, it surprised him when Rick agreed. Still they were running low on supplies and it appeared that they would need to make another run to gather more fuel for the generator, some iron for Lori, as she had become anemic and weak while nursing the kid and anything else they could use to fight their way into the prison yard.
When training finally started, it wasn't only Carol who wanted to learn. Maggie, Beth and Carl wanted in on it too. Hand to hand combat was one of the main subjects covered in the book Carol had been engrossed in for weeks. With T-Dog, Glenn and even Herschel's help it seemed the group's training sessions would make a difference, but Daryl felt like he'd been left off on the sidelines when it came to helping her. She was handling things on her own just fine.
Maggie became the group's shining star and it was clear that she was ready and willing to fight right alongside her man. She was fast, steady and determined. Carol, Beth and Carl weren't bad, they were just so small. On their excursion to the mall, they'd picked up some blanks for what guns they had and some of the firearms they'd taken. Rick insisted they drive away from the cabin for target practice. If by chance they drew walkers out from the surrounding area they had their vehicles to escape in.
It was breezy but warm outside as he watched Carol and Maggie line up with their firearms. Her fingers fumbled as she loaded the clip and made sure it was locked in place.
"Now, pull back the operating rod." T-Dog said, checking on Carol and then Maggie. "A round should feed up from the magazine. Release the handle, and the bolt should slam home, feed a round into the chamber and lock into place."
He needed to watch the field they were in, like Glenn was but he found it difficult to focus. He felt like he should be doing more. With the heat the girls were dressed in jeans and tank tops Carol had brought back from the mall. It was impossible not to see where Carol, though very thin, had developed muscle throughout her upper body. His eyes moved from the graceful way her fingers gripped the weapon up past her elbows to her tan biceps which were becoming defined and smooth, stirring something low in his gut.
He quickly turned toward the woods when she met his eyes, narrowed from the sun.
"If you are not immediately about to fire, engage the safety catch. DO NOT touch the trigger until you are about to fire." T-Dog commanded.
It was the most he'd ever heard the man speak.
Carol clicked on the safety while Maggie readied to fire. She seemed to be testing it, then she disengaged it and readied like Maggie.
T-Dog first stood behind Maggie and helped her with her stance. "Stop now, I know what I'm doin'." She complained. Still he moved her hand up and she let out a grown. Glenn rolled his eyes then met Daryl's. He nodded to the kid, giving him as much of a smile as he would.
Carol was focused on the site, her eye looking straight down the barrel.
"Focus on the front sight. You'll wanna put the front sight in the 6 o'clock position, in the center of your sight picture, aligned with your target." T-Dog said, and the girls were ready to fire.
Carol appeared strangely at ease with a real weapon in her arms. They held tight. She took a deep breath and as she exhaled, she slowly squeezed the trigger. Maggie fired at the same time. Both of their bodies bucked, but they each rebounded nicely dropping the guns to their sides. They all shaded their eyes to see that Carol had hit hers dead center. Maggie's wasn't far off.
"Nice." Glenn marveled, glancing nervously at Daryl. Daryl knew he was only nosin' around to watch his reaction to Carol's aim. He tried not to play into it, and just set his mouth into a firm line and crossed his arms. He'd wait and see if it'd been a fluke and if she could hit it again.
T-Dog set them up and ran them through the drill once again. "Same thing." He said, walking backwards, humming and clapping his hands, not really focusing on what they were doing. He was trying to make noise and distract them to see if they could tune him out. Maggie appeared a tad nervous, but Carol, aimed, took a deep breath and when she let it out, she fired – and hit her target again.
"Whoa-ho!" Cried T-Dog, clapping his hands even harder. "We got ourselves a sharp shooter here."
Carol appeared genuinely uncomfortable with the compliment. Maggie laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Great job!" Her expression gave away that she was happy for Carol, but green at the same time.
He shot Glenn a look, and they both kept scanning the area for walkers while the girls kept going. It did appear that Carol had a knack for shooting.
When it was the kids turn, she stole a glance at Daryl and took to helping Beth until T-Dog pointed off to the side where Daryl stood. "I got it. It's easier with one person giving orders."
She flashed T-Dog a nervous smile and Beth tried to hold back a giggle. Slowly she made her way over to him, turning so that they were almost shoulder to forearm. He felt his eyes shift down as she looked up. As soon as they made eye contact each of them looked away.
Daryl let out a huff. "Christ, I ain't gonna bite." And he shifted from one foot to the other. At the same time, they both leaned away from each other.
He wasn't opposed to her standing with him, he just wasn't sure she wanted to, with how quiet she'd been lately. Focused was more like it. She'd help Lori when she could. He'd woken up or come in from watch a few times to see her walking the living room floor burping the tiny bundle. He had no idea when it came to babies, didn't want nothin' to do with it, but it was obvious she knew what she was doin'.
Her voice drew him from his thoughts. "I've never handled a gun before but I watched my dad enough when I was young."
He almost couldn't believe she'd spoken to him. He hadn't heard her speak to anyone in a week other than quiet murmuring to Lori here and there.
"Looks like you've done it all yer life." He answered; wondering if that'd be it – the extent of the conversation.
Her lips drew into a half smile. But her attention turned back to the kids. "I never apologized for elbowing you."
"Don' worry 'bout it. I've had worse happen."
"That's what I was afraid of." She said with a resigned sigh.
"Said worse to you."
"I'm fine. I lived."
"Don't make it right." He paused, changing the subject. "The prison - It's crawling with walkers."
She nodded her affirmation. "I know."
"I know ya know, but ya haven't seen it. It's gonna take time to clear it out. We'll be able to use ya when it comes time."
"You know I'll do what I can. It's what we're here for, right?" She asked, as shots rang out and Carl hit the target. Beth was gonna need some help. T-Dog got behind her and got her set up to go again.
"Rick said somethin' about another run soon. One more we could squeeze in before we leave the cabin." He didn't know why he mentioned it. It hadn't been decided who was gonna go with him, but he'd volunteered.
She was watching T-Dog and Beth and had heard him but then it must've dawned on her. "You want me to go?"
He didn't know why she was surprised. "More walkers at that mall now. More practice, I figure.
"If Rick says it's alright."
"Ya don't gotta."
She resumed watching the kids, but crossed her arms, a bead of sweat trickled down her temple. "No, I want to." She answered finally, her voice real quiet-like.
He wasn't sure whether she agreed to go because he'd asked and she felt obligated or if she just wanted practice. It didn't matter. He wanted her to go. Everyone else in the group had been standoffish with them lately, so it was better being stuck in a vehicle for a couple a'hours with her than with any one of them. He thought that seemed a good enough reason anyhow.
Carol knew it looked strange to everyone else to see her with a gun and she tried hard not to show it but there was a swell of pride inside her. This had turned out to be something that felt natural to her from the moment she put the weapon in her hands.
Even though every one of them had been in awe, or had complimented her, it'd been Daryl's comment that had meant the most. She'd nearly avoided walking over to where he stood. There'd been so much that had happened at the farm, since the farm. She was afraid of how strong her feelings were for him. And the rollercoaster of emotions that would go along with being more than just his friend was also a determining factor in her avoidance of him as of late. And who was to say he wanted to be more than friends?
He gave her enough space but also kept edging his way into her heart and her physical space intentionally or unintentionally, she wasn't sure. Like the way he slept on the couch now for instance. She wanted to ask him why. But the last time she asked him why she got an off the cuff remark that he had nothin' better to do. And she if she wasn't gonna get a straight answer, she didn't wanna ask. It was probably wrong for her to assume what he'd say, but her experience with relationships narrowed down to one person and that was the asshole she'd married at twenty-two. She didn't like to even think his name. She only prayed that wherever Sophia was – that his soul was far away from hers. Prayin' for him to be in hell would be wrong so she avoided thinking much on that too.
Back at the cabin that night there was more talk about a scouting mission to the prison before they actually left – and that last run for supplies that Daryl had mentioned. Rick was leaned over the large table in the cabin, the light from a lantern flickering over his face making him look determined and forthright.
She'd had her doubts the night they'd fled the farm, and even though he sometimes ruled with an iron fist, he had the groups safety in mind twenty-four-seven.
At first she'd been afraid to try for the prison, but as time went on, the more she heard about it the more hope she had that maybe, just maybe they could clear it. Living behind a wall that would keep those monsters out with surveillance areas that would give them warning if any other groups, friendly or unfriendly advanced on them – it might be a pipe dream but it was a hell of a lot better living day to day lingering the way they were waiting for the next herd to plow through.
"Carol, you listening?" Rick asked loudly and suddenly all eyes were on her.
"I am now." She answered. "Sorry." She added, tossing a feeble look Daryl's way noticing his scowl.
"You and Daryl will leave in the morning. There'll be another list of supplies for you. I was just sayin' if you two get near the mall and it's over run at the point where the car crashed through, find someplace else to get the stuff. There's a plaza a little ways down you could check out."
"Might have to do both places." Daryl noticed looking over the list carefully, clearly intending on getting back in that mall. "You sure you're up for it?"
Carol lifted her chin. "Of course. If you and Rick say - " She stopped herself in mid sentence. "Yes, I'm up for it."
Late that night she lay flipped over on her stomach with her small pen light that she'd boosted from a convenient store the first time she'd gone on a run with T-Dog. She was reading one of her favorite Jane Austen books, "Pride and Prejudice." She flipped a page, almost to the part where Elizabeth and her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner visit Pemberley, the Darcy estate, when she heard and felt him rustling on the couch. Not a moment later, his head poked over the edge.
"What the hell are you doin'?" He griped, in a loud whisper.
She flicked the beam of her pen light up into his eyes, realizing that his eyes had been on the area of her lower back that was exposed. Her shirt had crawled up from where it met her jeans.
Blinking, furiously, he finally threw his arm across his face. "Christ! Why aren't you asleep? We gotta get an early start tomorrow."
"That didn't stop you the last time from stayin' up late." She retorted.
He grumbled something she couldn't hear though it wasn't very nice by the tone he'd used. His face disappeared and she felt him slump back down on the cushions.
Was I being loud while I was reading? She wondered. No she hadn't, aside from the occasional page flip. He'd been intently listening to her she decided. In all honesty it'd been sprung on him at the last minute, weeks ago when they made that trip to the mall and it wasn't fair of her to use that against him. He'd defended her against Andrea and she hadn't thanked him at all. Frankly she'd been embarrassed, but now she found herself crawling around the couch on her hands and knees until she was sitting in the dark cross-legged up near where he lay.
"Daryl?" She whispered, glad she wasn't facing him because with as dark as it was, she wasn't sure which way he was laying. He didn't respond. "Daryl?" She whispered a little louder, then she felt his breath in her ear.
"What'd ya want?"
"I need to say somethin'." She waited for him to tell her to go on, but when he didn't move, not even a twitch; she went ahead and began whispering. "I shouldn't have said what I said just now. And I meant to thank you for what happened with Andrea."
"Don't worry 'bout it. Ya need your sleep. Walkers don't need nothin' but flesh to live on but we gotta keep our heads together."
She froze when she felt his callused hand slowly but blindly reach out and brush the divot of her shoulder.
"Was that the self defense book you were readin'?"
Her heart beat fast, not believing that his hand was still there, warm on her skin. "Pride and Prejudice."
"Huh?"
"That book's an old friend of mine." She told him smiling faintly in the blackness.
Suddenly his hand was gone and his breath closer to her ear than before – when she turned slightly she saw the outline of his jaw, the sparkle of his blue eyes. She thought for just a second that he might kiss her. Time was marked by her heart beating as the seconds ticked on and then he said, "Go on, get back there. Try and sleep."
She took in a deep breath and let it out. "It's not as easy as you think." But she did as she was told. Once she was settled in, under the thin blanket she had, she heard him moving around again. Twisting the upper part of her body around, straining to see in the darkness, she watched as he lugged the huge sofa sideways until it was parallel with her mattress and then pushed it back up against it so that when he laid back down he was practically next to her. It took little effort for him to do, which didn't surprise her. She'd more than once admired his physique when he wasn't looking.
He was looking at her now though, and she was staring right back, not believing what he'd just done. She wanted to ask why but bit her tongue. The question must've been clear on her face though because he glanced away staring up at the ceiling.
"Just thought ya might sleep better this way." He said quietly.
"I know I would if you two would quit rearrangin' the furniture over there so you can play patty-cake." Herschel piped up from his bed.
Carol threw her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. When she dared peek at Daryl, he had his arms folded over his chest and his eyes narrowed, looking straight at the ceiling, but a smile – not a full blown smile brightening his features.
It was gonna be a long day tomorrow, she decided, and she wondered how she was gonna focus on the task at hand when Daryl suddenly seemed such a distraction to her. It was exactly what she'd been tryin' to avoid.