Later that day after they had picked up Luna and somethings for Allie, Daryl had set her up in his room and told her not to move unless she called him to help. The doctor had said bed rest for a week, and he was bound and determined that she would do as the physician said.
Andrea sat on the bed talking to her, and it was evident by her words and expression that she was thrilled at the news. Their children would have a cousin right away; they would grow up together. They would play together and be best friends, Andrea just knew it.
"You didn't know at all?", Andrea asked, "I mean…"
"I tried to get pregnant before, my cervix is tilted backward, and the doctors always said it would be difficult, my period comes every three months, sometimes not at all, I just never considered that could be it."
Andrea took her by the hand, "He's a good man, he'll work his ass off to take care of you and this baby, it's who he is."
"I know," Allie replied.
"They're both a little rough around the edges, but underneath that is something so good that very few people get to see."
"I know that too," Allie said, but their conversation was interrupted when they heard knocking on the front door and voices out in the living room. Shortly after that Tara was sticking her head in the door with her usual excitement.
"We're having a baby!" She said as she walked into the room and reintroduced herself to Andrea, who she had met at the movies weeks ago, then she sat next to Allie on the bed and shoulder bumped her friend.
The look of joy on Tara's face was unmistakable; she was thrilled to be an auntie.
"Did Daryl call you?" Allison asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"Yup," Tara replied, "He didn't know where to get a litter box for Luna, and you were asleep, isn't that adorable?"
Allison grinned, and Andrea nodded her head as she spoke, "I always say you can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats animals."
"Well, I hear he's like, the pussy whisperer or something, so ya know," Tara said with a laugh and Allie couldn't help but smile but she was embarrassed.
"Runs in the family," Andrea said with a wink.
"So," Tara began again, "Did ya break in the jeep yet?"
The three of them laughed so much that afternoon that Daryl and Merle seriously considered their sanity. Neither of them was entirely used to having women around, and Daryl was totally taken aback when Tara fist bumped him when she got there and said, "Good Job, Ace," Her version of congratulations.
The men sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and could hear the girls laughing and talking in Daryl's room where Allie was told to stay with her feet up.
This would be their life now, and they couldn't have been happier. Merle and Daryl came from humble and sometimes horrible beginnings, but this? This was a dream that both of them chased without even knowing it.
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Alisha joined them later for dinner and whispered to Tara as they watched Daryl helping Allie to the table. He was so careful with her and probably would have carried her from the bedroom if she hadn't insisted on walking.
"Isn't he the sweetest thing," She whispered to Tara.
"I approve," Tara said with a grin.
They watched as he pulled out the chair for her and helped her sit down, she had put on leggings and a sweatshirt after she was discharged, even though Daryl told her to put on pajama's, she didn't want to feel sick.
She did get tired very early, and after watching what happened to be her favorite movie, and Merle's "Starship Troopers" with Merle and Andrea in the living room, they went to bed. Daryl wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing the back of her neck and just breathing her in.
"I don't want to be apart anymore Allie," He said.
"Me either," She replied.
"So you'll stay?"
"Yes," She said, "I'll stay forever."
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A week later they went on their first official date, once the doctor said she could be off bedrest. There was a quarry, not too far from where Daryl lived, and the water was the bluest color Allie had ever seen. Next, to the color of his eyes, she had never seen a more beautiful color blue.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and he wanted it to be perfect for her.
She'd worn a dress; it was yellow with an empire waistline and a ribbon tied around to the back. Daryl had never seen Allie in a dress before, and it was hard not to stare.
They took the jeep and Daryl drove since he knew where he was going and brought a cooler full of food to spend the day there. He had brought a big fluffy blanket and laid it down under a tree where they spent the day eating and making plans for their new life together.
Once they were back from Savanna, the next weekend, they would start to pack up Allie's apartment and move her things to his house, whatever didn't fit would go into storage until they decided what to do with it.
Someday they might have their own place, or maybe they would stay with Merle and Andrea, all four of them were excited to have two babies in the house at the same time, although they prayed both of them slept on the same schedule.
There was land out behind the house that Daryl's parents built, they could even build a house there if they wanted to.
Luna acclimated well to the change of residence and on most nights could be found sprawled over Merle in some fashion while he watched TV on the couch.
After a while, other people arrived at the quarry, couples like them and families out for picnics and fishing. Allie had been out of work and was due back on Monday, Maggie had pulled Daryl's PICC line the week before, and he was thrilled to have use of both his hands again, which he couldn't keep off of her.
Throughout the day, they ate and kissed sweetly and chastely, neither of them big proponents of PDA, and it was during one of those kisses that a shadow cast over them as someone stood at the blanket they were laying on.
Allie looked up and straight into the eyes of Phillip Blake one of the ICU nurses that had taken care of Daryl when he had his surgery, back in September. He'd asked her out a few times but she always nicely said no, that she wasn't over Zack yet and as Allie looked up at him, she knew that he knew that wasn't the reason.
"Allie," Philip said, "Imagine running into you and, I'm sorry I don't remember your name, but you were an endo- transsphenoidal surgical patient weren't you back in the fall, brain tumor, follow up with chemo, apparently?"
He said dragging his eyes across Allie in an almost sinister way.
"Daryl," He said standing up and helping Allie up, "And yes that was me."
"Hmm interesting," Phillip said, ignoring Daryl's hand to shake, "You're well I trust?"
"Yes, I am," Daryl said, taking hold of Allie's hand. And Phillip nodded as he watched, so it was like that, she'd said no to him and toldthis guy yes, he couldn't believe it.
"Good to see that," Phillip said, and they both knew he didn't mean it sincerely, then he addressed Allie, "Didn't peg you for the PDA type Allie, you should be careful, people may talk."
"Let them, if they have nothing better to do," She said channeling Maggie Rhee's words to her just a month before, "I don't care."
"Maybe you should," Phillip said and turned on his heel and walked away back to the group of men he had been fishing with that day. She recognized some of them from the hospital and was sure they knew her too.
Allie was enraged that he would low-key threaten her that way so she did the only thing she could think of, after making sure there were no kids around. It was 78 degrees out, unseasonably hot and they were all in the water.
So she grabbed Daryl by the loops of his jeans and pulled him closer, and after making sure Philip and his group were lurking and watching, she gave Daryl the kind of kiss that would melt his face off. After she had kissed him thoroughly in front of half the town, she slid her hands into his back pockets and brought her mouth to his ear; he could feel her warm breath on his neck.
"Let's go home and make love." She said, taking his earlobe between her lips.
She didn't have to ask him twice, he packed up their stuff like his ass was on fire, and they were on their way home in minutes. It had been weeks, first because of their separation and then her being on bedrest, but now, it was on.
"Are you sure," He said looking over at her as they drove down the dirt road away from the quarry.
"Denise, Dr. Cloyd says I'm fine, the baby is fine, everything is fine," She said taking his hand, "And I've missed you."
"Missed you too," He said, then he felt her hand on his thigh, and watched a sly grin come over her face. He tried to ignore it for a minute or two, but it was becoming useless.
"Pull over," She said, bringing her hand up farther, he kept driving until she put her hand on his dick and rubbed through his jeans. He was already half hard from the way she kissed him at the quarry, and this was too much to bear.
"Are you crazy woman?", He said and slammed on the breaks, he looked over at her and shook his head with a grin. Then he turned to look behind them and backed the jeep up and off the road looking for a spot with trees.
Allie just laughed and nodded her head, "So crazy about you I can't wait till we get home."
Daryl parked the jeep sideways off the road, and because it was a dirt road off the main dirt road, and there was not a likely chance of anyone coming. He pushed the seat back as far as it would go and pulled her onto his lap and throbbing dick. Her dress was hiked up to her waist, and he ran his hands over her thighs
"I think you're just the kind of crazy I need." He said and then his lips were on her and his hands. The weight of her on his lap and against him with not much between them was almost unbearable, and then her hands were on his buckle, and she was pulling at his pants until they were off.
"Hurry," She breathed out and pulled her panties off, making sure to show him, then she tossed them aside. Daryl let out a groan, as his lips went to her neck and sucked hard. The sun was starting to go down, and it was a perfect moment in time. He grasped her hips and lifted her slightly and then he was inside her. It was heaven on earth to him, and already he was breaking out in a sweat.
"Jesus…" He groaned and dug his hand into her hips, she started to move but he stopped her, "You sure this won't hurt you."
"Shhhhh," Allie said, "It's fine," She said wrapping her arms around him and bringing her lips down to his ear, "We're both fine."
Then she kissed him dirty and started to move her hips in slow, aching movements that almost made his head explode. It had never been like this with anyone before; he ached for her in a way he'd never experienced with any other woman.
This was love, and he was grabbing it with both hands and never letting it go.
"Sorry, this ain't gonna last long darlin," Daryl gasped out moving her hips faster as she brought her arms around his neck, "I'll make it up to you later."
Allie slid her lips over his neck to the spot by his collar bone that was one of his sweet spots and dug her fingers into his hair. She knew both things drove him out of his mind and put him completely at her mercy.
Daryl brought his hands up over her breasts and ran his thumbs over her nipples through her dress until her head fell back and she screamed his name. He could feel her body contracting all around him and that tremor she got every time she came.
He knew she'd start to fuck his brains out now and he wasn't wrong. She rolled her hips into him faster and faster giving him little choice in the matter but to just let it happen, and soon he was cumming hard, just seconds after her.
"Oh Goddammit," Daryl moaned loudly, as his eyes rolled back in his head and everything went white for a moment. After they had caught their breath, he pulled her close against him, "I fucking love you, Allie."
She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed him in; she loved the way he smelled, "I fucking love you too."
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They stayed that while for a long time just holding each other and watching the remainder of the sunset, things like this were meant to be savored, they both knew that all too well. Life was unpredictable, and you never knew when your last day might be.
Together they would live every day as if it was their last; they would have a beautiful life with no regrets and no more separations.
If the headlights hadn't startled them, they might have fallen asleep.
"You've got to be kidding me," Daryl said as he watched the police car approach and then soon, with a flashlight in his face, he looked into the eyes of his neighbor and friend.
Rick was smiling and trying very hard not to laugh, he could see Allie was trying not to laugh too, and he realized he liked her already. It took Daryl a minute to compose himself to introduce them because this was going to be awkward at the fourth of July barbecue Rick always invited him and Merle too. But he sucked it up.
"Rick Grimes, this is Allie Gallagher." Allie waved and burst out laughing, and Rick did too. Finally, Daryl allowed himself to laugh and prayed Rick wouldn't tell Merle he'd gotten caught with his pants down like this. He would never hear the end of it and neither would she if Merle found out.
"Pleased to meet you, Allie, finally," He said reaching in the window and shaking her hand, "I've heard good things about you."
Then he turned to Daryl, "What are you? Sixteen?", Rick laughed, "Your house is like two miles away."
There was nothing to do but laugh and later that night Allie received a thumbs up text from Tara, who had heard from Rick at the station that he busted a couple in a red Jeep that night in lover's lane. Rick didn't know that Tara was Allie's best friend, but she had figured it out, and she knew exactly who it was.
In bed, lying next to Daryl she showed him the message, and they laughed about it again.