Daryl held the Mustang door open for Kate and gestured for her to be a passenger in her own car. She almost said no but there was something about the way he was looking at her that told her no wasn't an option and she didn't really want it to be.
The car journey started in silence until Daryl helped himself to the radio, tuning it into the local station where the sounds of unfamiliar country music floated out. She hardly knew how to look at Daryl. All she could think about was him admitting that he was jealous and saying "I ain't finished with ya yet". The words played on a loop that she tried to ignore as she pressed her knees together and folded her hands in a lap, sitting as ladylike and as far away from Daryl as possible until they were pulling up outside a single story house with a bright yellow door.
Daryl rested his hand on her seat as he turned to say, "I'll be five minutes, ya can wait 'ere or come inside..."
"I'll wait," Kate needed the time to pull herself together and consider her options.
/
"Alright," Daryl said but really he was thinking 'thank God' as he jumped out of the car and disappeared into the house.
He flicked on the light and hoped that Jim and Charlene weren't going to be home before he managed to come up with a plan and get away.
What the hell was he going to do with Kate?
Daryl looked around the living room for inspiration before his eyes settled on Char's pile of girly magazines. He jumped over the back of the sofa and scrambled to the coffee table to pick the first one up. Maybe there would be a convenient article on 'where woman liked to be taken on romantic dates.'
Romantic dates, Daryl covered his face with the magazine, "Jesus."
What the hell was Kate turning him into?
He cleared his throat and let the glossy magazine fall open where it may, it was an advert for some women's shit so he flicked to the next page, Your Vagina's Health, "what the fuck?"
Daryl threw the magazine down and lit a cigarette to calm his nerves before he caught sight of the photograph of Charlene that sat on the fireplace mantle. Fuck, she hated smoking in the house so he stubbed it out with a groan. He never had to worry about this shit when he lived with Merle.
He looked at the TV and the row of DVD's that sat neatly just below it. The left side were Charlene's and the right side were Jim's. Daryl crouched down to run his finger along the cases. If there was one thing the redhead liked it was a chick flick. He began to think he should have paid more attention when Jim complained about the dumb sickly sweet plotlines of the movies Char had forced him to watch.
Daryl ran his finger along the spines reading the titles, hoping to get some inspiration but there was none. The only thing that jumped out was Dirty Dancing and that was a definate no go, there was no way in hell he could take a woman dancing. He could maybe dance after several drinks, if there were no witnesses, but that was only a maybe.
Then he began to look at Jim's selection, The Deer Hunter, Platoon, Goodfellas, Star Wars, Star Wars. Daryl thought about camping trips when he was a kid and stood up. It would have to do. Fucking hell, he needed to get better at this.
/
Kate knew that when people said five minutes they really meant fifteen so that was ample time for her to have a melt down. Being with Daryl was a peculiar mixture of feeling right and wrong at the same time. He was easy to spend time with and in another life she would have enjoyed every minute of it but right now she felt wracked with guilt and a tinge of heartache. As much as she wanted to jump behind the wheel and abandon him she also wanted to stay and see what he was going to do next.
Kate bit her lip as she began to rifle through her purse for her phone. She pressed the button to illuminate the screen and the picture of Harry that had been her wallpaper since before the accident. She hadn't had the heart to change it, even if it did give her a small lump in her throat every time she looked at her phone. She remembered the day it was taken. It had snowed overnight, a light covering that had left a two centimeter film as far as the eye could see. Harry was so excited to build a Snowdog like the one from the 'Snowman and The Snowdog' movie. Still in his pajamas., he'd pulled on his wellies and his gloves before running straight out into the garden without a coat.
Ryan eventually bundled Harry up and then together the three of them had gathered every flake of snow into a pile where they build their very own Snowdog before returning to the house for egg and soldiers followed by a sneaky mince pie since it had been almost christmas afterall. The next morning Harry had been more than a little disappointed that their snowdog hadn't turned into a real puppy like it did in the movie.
Kate scrolled through her contact list which had been embarrassingly underused over the last year. She read through all the names until she landed on her best friend from university, her partner in all sorts of shameless drinking and indecent activities, Isy. No matter what time day or night she would pick up the phone.
"Hello Stranger," Isy chimed as she answered on the third ring.
"Hey…" Kate felt a wave of guilt.
"To what do I owe the honor?"
"I'm sorry I don't call more."
"I know you are K," there was a small pause before Isy chirped again, "what you doing? I wish I could be out there with you."
"I'm just…" Kate looked at the door that Daryl had disappeared through. "I'm just sitting in a car."
"Oh god, you're not about to drive off a cliff or something are you?"
"What? Of course i'm not! I'm waiting for a… friend."
"A man friend?"
"Yes. He's a man."
"Oh goody" Isy gushed and Kate could almost picture her friends face, the wonky man eating grin and the dark shrewd eyes. "Tell me more..."
"There's nothing more except…" Kate pulled her ponytail over her shoulder and pinched the end between her fingers as she leaned against the seat, "I feel like I'm betraying Ryan and Harry just by being in the car with another man."
"I know you do…" Isy's voice was softer now. "You want the brutal answer or the sugar coated one?"
"You know I don't like to be handled."
"Okay, you loved Harry but he's gone, nothing you do or don't do will change that... You weren't happy with Ryan. You know this, we talked about it, don't make him into a martyr. If you can have fun you should do it. Stop punishing yourself K."
Everything that Isy said was of course true but it didn't make the way Kate felt any easier. In fact her unhappy marriage with Ryan was what made her feel even more wracked with guilt. He'd spent the last years of his life with a woman that didn't really love him. They just went through the motions and she was glad when he was away for work and she didn't have to fake it.
"I'd be more worried about what underwear you're sporting."
"Isy."
"Oh come on K, you aren't worried about being friends with a man. You're worried about shagging him."
"Oh god, don't say that."
"Making luurve then."
"I'm regretting making this call."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset your prudish sensibilities."
Kate sighed heavily and let the prude comment slide. Maybe she was a bit of a prude now. "I don't know what he's going to do… I'm seriously considering driving away."
"You're such a drama queen K. Don't run away, enjoy yourself, before you grow cobwebs..."
"Please don't finish that sentence," Kate chastised. "I'm going now."
"Okay, but remember, no love without a glove and K…"
Kate rolled her eyes and died inside a little, "what?"
"I can hear your eye rolling over the phone! You know you love me and I want ALL the details."
Details. Kate should have never called Isy, she hadn't really even been thinking about sex. She'd been worried that he might kiss her and that she might like it. Now she was worried that he might put his hands on her body and she wouldn't have the willpower to resist. She wasn't even sure she wanted to resist. Especially when she saw Daryl emerging from the house with a shy half smile, a giant backpack and what looked like a bundled up leather jacket.
Daryl popped the trunk and threw all the items into the boot while Kate wondered what the hell he had in his backpack that looked big enough to take on a week's hike up a mountain. In fact she wasted no time in asking him as he sat back in the car, "what's in the bag?"
Daryl paused and started the engine then as he pulled off the drive he simply said, "supplies."
"What supplies?"
A smirk crossed his face, "you'll have to wait an' see won't ya…"
Kate leaned back in her seat with a huff. She hated surprises, the wait drove her to distraction.
Luckily she didn't have to wait too long before they were pulling up in a random layby that was surrounded by nothing but wall to wall trees with no end in sight. This had an air of Sex Truck about it and she was hardly that type of girl. Even before she became a prude.
Kate didn't know exactly what she expected, maybe a little bit more civilization since it was getting dark but then she was with Daryl, a redneck mountain man that belonged amongst nature. Bloody hell, how had she ended up out here with a man like this?
Daryl jumped out and around the car before he opened her door and leaned in, "ain't ya comin'?"
"We're here?" she confirmed.
"Soon," Daryl rasped as he leaned even closer to unclip her seatbelt with a soft ping and a roguish smile.
If Kate was going to go anywhere or do anything with him then it was still going to be on her terms, that's what she promised herself. She had to stop melting into a pool of jelly and have some self control. She placed the tip of her finger against his chest and nudged him all the way out of the doorframe before she climbed out and straightened down her cami. "I'm perfectly capable of getting out of a car."
Daryl laughed at her before he retrieved his giant backpack from her boot. Then he handed her the leather jacket. His leather jacket. "Put it on," he commanded as he rifled through his bag.
Kate almost wanted to refuse his jacket. This was getting too much. But then a breeze blew straight through the thin cotton of her clothes and a wave of goosebumps prickled along her skin. Refusal would just be posturing, and achieve nothing except leave her freezing. So she relented, slipping her arms through the sleeves and shrugging it up her shoulders.
Daryl wasn't even looking at her and it was only his jacket touching her body but there was something uncomfortably intimate about being wrapped in the soft worn leather that belonged to him. It smelled just like he did, sandalwood and musk, smoke and leather. She remembered wearing his shirt, this was different, the shirt had been clean, work clothes straight from his locker. This was his personal coat, a layer of him and now she was covered in it.
Daryl pulled his eyes from the backpack to look at her and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth before he cleared his throat.
"Where are you planning on taking me?"
He stood up, pulled the backpack on his shoulders and looked behind him to the cluster of trees before he turned back at her, his hand outstretched, "there's a nice little clearin'."
"A clearing?" Sounded ominous.
"Yes ma'am'," he raised his eyebrows and stepped forward bringing his outstretched hand even closer.
"Well," Kate looked away trying to avoid holding his hand for the second time in as many hours, "what's so special about this clearing?" The long expanse of nothing but trees, dirt and undergrowth seemed so dark and foreboding now that the sun had started to set. There can't have been anything around for miles and miles.
"Ya always ask so many questions?"
"Do you always lure women into forests?" She teased. Despite the fact that Kate had permanent nervous butterflies fluttering around her stomach she couldn't deny that there was something about Daryl made her feel safe.
Kate wasn't sure but she was almost sure that Daryl blushed before he said, "only you."
Then it was Kate's turn to blush, "I might get eaten by a bear."
Daryl snorted, "I ain't gonna let a bear eat ya"
"Famous last words I'm sure."
/
Daryl scratched his chin and looked his city girl up and down. She wasn't at all what he had ever contemplated when he pictured himself with a woman except for maybe her dark hair. "Ya ever go campin'?"
"You're taking me camping?" Kate looked mildly horrified.
"Not tonight, I'm just askin' if ya ever been?"
"Not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"I camped at a music festival once." Kate said and he nodded his head encouraging her to continue. "Well it was… not my cup of tea. I like my evenings to include a soft mattress and hot running water."
Of course she did. Although, if she ever spent the night in the wilderness with him she wouldn't be thinking about what they were lying on, that would be for damn sure. "When I was a kid I used to camp up 'ere a lot with my Grandpa, we never been eaten by a bear yet. So I think I can take care of ya on a little hike."
"How little?"
"Jesus woman lets get goin' 'fore the damn sun sets an' starts coming back up…" he went for it, taking her hand and giving her a gentle tug until she relented like he suspected she would. Miss Uppity just liked to dig her heels in first. She was stubborn and suspicious, just like the unbroken horses that used to arrive on the farm. But no matter what, Grandpa Dixon could get even the most willful of beasts to submit to him.
The walk through the forest wasn't too bad, even for a city girl. The trail was fairly flat and straight forward. It was walking back in the dark that was going to be more tricky, but only slightly. Besides, Daryl liked the idea that Kate wouldn't be able to leave without him. In the museum she was like a mountain lion charging around with her claws out but out here she was more like a lost pussycat and he liked the soft pliable side of Miss Uppity as much as he liked the wildcat side.
Daryl also liked her wearing his jacket, he found himself gazing at her more than he was watching the trail and every time he looked he felt his whole body fill with warmth and longing. He wanted to know more about her. It was almost unheard of amongst the people he grew up with not to have spent most of your childhood outdoors, camping and hunting. "Tell me somethin' 'bout when you were a kid..."
"When I was a kid?"
"Yeah, what were you like city girl?"
"Well… I lived in a city, so there was none of this," she held her hands out to indicate the trees.
"That all ya got?" he threw her a bottle of water and she caught it easily before giving him a disapproving look.
"I… er... lived with my Nana and for most of my childhood our house was a tiny flat above a newsagents which belonged to husband number 4," Kate held up four fingers with a wry smile.
"Four husbands?" Jesus.
"Five in the end… she was what you would call a hopeless romantic. She used to read me Jane Austen before bed." Kate got a far off look in her eye before returned her gaze to him. "Sometimes I'd pinch a Vimto lolly pop and a stack of magazines from the shop and sit halfway up the stairs, between the shop and the flat, I liked National Geographic… sometimes I'd write little stories and slip them between the pages of the newspapers for people to read."
Kate took a drink of water and ended her story. He wanted her to continue. Never in his life had he wanted to hear all of someone's little stories, the insignificant trivia that made up a person's personality. It was like he had a Kate book and he wanted to fill all the blank pages.
The idea of her living with her Nana made him wonder why not her parents. Then he wondered what the hell Vimto was. Why National Geographic? Why did she study history? What happened to her husband? Why did she marry him?
Some questions would be far easier to ask than others and all of them would have to wait since the clearing they were heading for was right ahead.
"We're here," Daryl said, he knew that during the day it didn't look like much just a patch of wilderness like any other but come nightfall it would be special. He could almost remember the feeling he got the first time his Grandpa brought him here. He couldn't wait to see Kate's face when the stars came out. He hoped that maybe he could catch a bit of that forgotten feeling.
Daryl dropped his backpack in the centre of the clearing and stood up straight, it occurred to him that he was taking a woman for a picnic under the stars. If someone would have suggested the idea a couple of months ago he would have called them a pathetic little pussy. Yet here he was, pulling out a picnic blanket and wondering what kind of flowers were her favourite.
Fucking hell, he was a pathetic little pussy, thank God Merle wasn't here to see this, he'd never live it down.
/
Kate left Daryl pulling an assortment of things from his mysterious backpack while she snuck away to the ladies. The whole time she was on high bear alert as well as high 'I hope Daryl can't hear me pee' alert'.
When she returned Kate realised that the sun had all but dipped from the sky, letting itself be replaced by a crescent moon and a hazy twilight glow. Daryl had spread a green and blue checkered picnic blanket on the ground in the middle of the clearing and he was sprawled across it with a cigarette dangling carelessly from the corner of his mouth.
Bloody hell, Kate felt her mouth go dry as she hovered around the treeline, casually turning around to inspect the plant life or anything that a person might inspect if they were interested in that sort of thing.
"Ya already looked at that one," Daryl's gravelly voice gave her a start as she absentmindedly began her second turn of the treeline.
Kate paused and she could almost feel his eyes burning right into her. She was well aware that she was acting ridiculous, weird even.
"What ya doin' anyway?"
"This would be a great place to put a Geocache," she turned to look at him.
"A what?"
"Nothing," Kate took a deep breath and forced herself to cross the clearing to sit with him. She sat at the corner of the blanket with her legs crossed and Daryl's jacket pulled about herself.
"Beer?" Daryl held out a bottle from his bag and she reached for it tentatively. It wasn't just that she didn't like beer it was also because she wasn't so sure she wanted to relax and let her guard any more down than it already was.
Kate took a sip of her beer. Daryl took a sip of his own and stubbed out his cigarette before he scooted along the blanket to make a space which he patted, "lay down."
"What?" her heart went in her throat.
"Ya ain't gonna see much from that angle," Daryl pointed upwards.
Kate tilted her head. "Do you know their names?"
"Just the north star."
Kate lay next to him, one arm tucked under her head and the other lay between them with their fingers a hair's breadth apart.
The flecks of stars were starting to twinkle through the deep midnight blue of the sky. It was mesmerizing as the stars seemed to pop from the sky like popcorn in the microwave, one by one then all at once and suddenly the whole expanse was filled with a million tiny silver pinpricks.
"Why history?" Daryl said and she inclined her head to look at him.
"I don't know… I just always liked it. Thinking about people. Sometimes I wonder…" Kate looked at the stars again, "how many things had to happen at just the right time for us to end up lying on this blanket in this very moment. You know, if you go only 10 generations back in time you'll be looking at over 1000 ancestors. Each of them had to meet at just the right time and survive wars, famines, plagues and a million different things or we would have never been born."
/
"Jesus, that's kind of a mind fuck," Daryl turned to look at Kate, laying next to him, she was so pretty with her big brown eyes glowing brightly in the dim light of the stars and her crazy statistics. But she was right, a million things had aligned to bring her to this clearing with him right now so he shouldn't waste it.
Daryl's hand reached out to touch her, to cup her chin so her lips would be at the perfect angle for him to kiss her. He pictured it, one soft kiss to test her willingness before he scooped her body to his and kissed her how he wanted to. But his hand had barely left his side and Kate was sitting up, stretching out her arms with a yawn followed by a small laugh, "it's getting pretty late."
"Right," Daryl sat up and looked at his watch. How had an entire day with Kate not been long enough? He didn't want to take her home or at least he wanted to stay with her, even if all they did was talk.
Fuck that, he was done talking.
Daryl stood up as Kate did and as he stepped closer she rolled her shoulders before bending down to pick up the blanket. He appreciated her ass before she straightened up and began folding the blanket with a sleepy smile.
He stared at her for longer than was probably appropriate as he tried to make a move, any sort of move, until he realised he couldn't and looked away. He wasn't Merle. He couldn't just grab a girl and kiss her, could he? He looked at Kate again. She was tightening her ponytail and oblivious. Shit, he began to throw the empty beer bottles into his backpack. He'd fucked it now, he'd had his chance and took it too late.
He tried not to feel too miserable as he found the torch he'd packed for Kate and passed it to her. He should have just fucking kissed her outside of the bowling alley when his leftover Jason rage had been pumping testosterone around his body. At that moment he'd happily done more than a little kiss. He'd wanted to be a gentleman. He grunted, fucking gentleman. If Dixon's were anything it definitely wasn't gentlemen. Then he thought about his Grandpa and remembered that wasn't true.
The whole walk back to the car and the whole drive home Daryl tortured himself and filled with all manner of self doubt until he was passing Kate her keys and she said, "goodnight Mr Dixon."
"G'night…"
Kate turned and hopped up her steps.
"Wait," he said without any intention of what he would continue with. Still, she turned around, her big brown eyes searching his. "Irma wanted me to invite ya to her famous 4th of July picnic… ya know if ya wanna go to that sorta thing…" Shit, 4th of July, she was fucking British. Jesus fuck he was an idiot. "I mean… ya don't have to…"
"I'd like that,"
"Ya would?" He was certain that Irma would be happy to have Kate at her picnic.
"Yeah, why not?."
"Good," Daryl stepped forward onto the first of her five doorsteps.
"Well goodnight… again," Kate hovered on the top step, her keys jingling in her hand.
"My jacket," he realised out loud before regretting saying it. He preferred the idea of her taking it into the house with her, like an emissary in unconquered territories.
Kate's eyes fell to her body, "of course." She turned the key in her door, pushing it open with her knee before she dropped her handbag through the opening. Then she shrugged off his leather jacket and held it out for him to reclaim.
Daryl climbed to step four. The bee's in his stomach were in their usual frenzy. He could do this, he just needed to grow some fucking balls. It was just a simple kiss.
He couldn't take his eyes off her as his hand fumbled for the jacket letting it fall between them. He bent to pick it up at the same time Kate did and narrowly missed smacking his head into hers as he fell backwards. All the way down the four steps with a large bang.
"Bloody hell, are you okay?" Kate exclaimed.
"I'm fine," Daryl tried to act cool as he held the throbbing part of his head. Fuck, that fucking hurt.
Fuck, once more he looked like an idiot. His face must have resembled a tomato in its redness. He tried to avoid looking at Kate as he abandoned his jacket, said "see ya" and hightailed it back to his car. That's what he got for trying to be cool, trying to make a move, he was like one of the fucking stooges. Or maybe it was Kate, maybe she threw the damn gravity out of balance so a man couldn't stand on his fucking feet.
At least he'd got her to spend the entire Sunday with him. That would do for now. There was always tomorrow.
A/N- thanks for the lovely reviews on my last chapter :)