Hello lovelies! A new chapter! I wanna thank HappyBlueInk for lending me a hand on this, because honestly. I wasn't sure if I had over fluffed this to heeeeel. But! I figure it makes up for it, since next chapter should be a crapton of angst. Least. that's the deal.
I have actually found this fiction to be some what of a series of oneshots in a cohesive manner. Meaning! there's not really any plot arc I'm going for...
ya get my drift? This chapter was inspired by a Nonny named LL, so here's to you, darling!
Thank you all so much for all the favorites and reviews, you're all sweet and a glorious help!
Quote is just something that was bouncing around in my head while I wrote this so yep.
Also, there'll be a note at the bottom. take a look if you rpg and are ready for me to shamelessly self plug. Thanks much, enjoy and review!
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"And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!" Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
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Everything outside was still.
The wind had stopped it's howling, and so had the wolf/dog in the distance.
Daryl lay as he nearly always did nowadays,
On his back with Sophia curled into his side (for warmth. He insisted to himself. It wasn't like the damn kid was attached to him and it was a well known fact Daryl was a bit of a space heater) and Carol on the other side of Sophia.
He was retracing his steps today-
Tying to figure out where they'd gone wrong. How such a shit day had happened. Sophia had near lost her leg-
Caught in the barbed wire-
He could still smell the blood on her as he hauled her off the fence-
Still hear her cries.
A moan and a whine caught his attention.
He looked down at Sophia, brushing her hair away from her face. But she was peacefully asleep, her thumb near her mouth (he would store that information away for later) and her eyelashes dusting her cheeks in a pleasant dream she'd never remember.
If the whine hadn't come from Sophia, and it damn sure hadn't come from him, then it must have-
He lifted his head and peered at Carol. She was curled up in a ball (strange since she usually slept on her left side, body covering Sophia's. As if she could protect her in her sleep.)
(It still unnerved Daryl when she would lay across Sophia, and have a fistfull of his shirt.
She only did this in the deepest of sleeps. But he'd woken on more than one occasion with a yelp as she grabbed a fistful of shirt-and-chest-hair, eyes firmly closed.)
"You alright?" He asked, reaching over and touching her shoulder lightly.
"Yeah." She nodded in a warbled voice.
"No you ain't. You need me to go get Hershel?" She looked up, brow creased in pain.
"No. It's fine. He can't help. I've suffered this many a time. Thank you though."
Thoughts of Ed flashed through his mind, his face- his hands on His woman, fists into soft flesh.
He sat up with an angry huff, kneading at his eye sockets. Trying to rid the fury from his veins.
"The hell he do to you?" He asked roughly.
"Who?" she whispered back in confusion.
"You know who." He grunted back. On the covers between them, Sophia turned over, her ass in the air- having been jostled in the hubbub.
Daryl snorted, covering the girl back up.
Despite the momentary amusement- he still felt the dull ache of a bruised pelvic bone from a few too many kicks with a steel toed boot.
"Daryl- he's dead. Ed's dead. He didn't hurt me." She insisted worriedly.
"So. Don't mean he didn't bust something." He whispered back, though harsher than he intended.
And then. She giggled.
She fucking giggled.
"Daryl. My stomach hurts." She told him quietly- so as not to wake the girl between them.
"You're dyspeptic?" He asked with a frown. "I can get you some baking soda..."
She giggled again at the old-fashioned word '"No- it's not my stomach- it's my abdomen."
"That's it. I'm getting Hershel." He reached for his boots.
"Daryl!" She said softly, touched by his insistence on her health. "It's normal."
"Hell if it is. You don't impress me as a whiner." He felt her hand on his elbow.
You didn't get the crap beat outta you on a weekly basis and whine at a paper cut.
"Aunt Martha came." She told him. Now he was really confused.
"'Scuse me?"
"You know. The Aunt who shows up but rarely is announced and doesn't bring any luggage?" He gave her a befuddled look.
"Momma?" Sophia asked, looking up. "You okay?"
"Yeah baby- go back to sleep." She nodded, but continued to look at them sleepily.
"What were you sayin'?" He asked, turning back to Caryl after tucking blankets around Sophia's feet.
"Aunt Flow? Crimson tide? Time of the month? Cycle of life?" Mostly she just liked the owlish expression on her face as she listed off silly names.
He blinked at her.
"Huh?"
Sophia, who had caught on to the conversation, piped up, "You know Daryl,
Shark week?, The Red Badge of Courage? On the rag? Cotton on? Miss Scarlett has returned to Tara? Japanese Flag Week? Ovum independence day?" Sophia grinned at his reddened face. "Crimson Horror?"
To some extent, he understood why Sophia so loved to pull his leg.
Having grown up in a similar household- there wasn't much for joking or yankin' chains, so yeah. He understood why Sophia irritated him intentionally and pushed boundaries, that didn't mean that it wasn't annoying as hell some times.
Daryl frowned placed his hand on her head (gently) shoving her head back onto the pillow.
"The eff to sleep, Sophia!" He growled as she giggled out a 'yes sir'
"Daryl. It's period cramps." He let out a harsh huff of air, turning back to Carol.
"You're menstruatin''? That's it?" He groused, face bright red and gut twisted with embarrassment.
She nodded. "My uterus is being a bitch, not your fault. nothing you can do about it- thank you though, for worrying..'' she smiled softly at him/
Now Daryl had seen that episode of Supernatural. And he'd damn well seen his Momma thrash.
He couldn't imagine one of his muscles squeezing blood outta him for a week straight with out dying. So he figured it must hurt like hell.
So, squaring his shoulders. He decided to suck it up. Use the set his Momma grew in such an organ and said: "Sophia. Move over." He nudged her into the spot he'd been laying in. She curled happily into the warm nest he'd left behind as he put down his shoe and scooted into the place Sophia had vacated.
He shoved a purple powerpuff girl pillow behind his back and gestured to Carol.
"Lay down then." He told her pointedly as he put his hands together.
Carol lay down on her back as she was told to remove this word and watched in awe as he started to rub the flat of his palms together in a quick motion.
"Woooooow." Sophia whispered from where she was looking up at him, eyes peeking over the sleeping bag. "Daryl's Mr. Miyagi!"
"Sophia Lynn, turn over. Close your eyes and go to sleep." He demanded- (though without much venom. Damn kid just needed to go to sleep. He was too old for this shit.)
"Yes sir." She nodded, finally turning over with a yawn and a thump.
"Lift up your shirt." He told Carol quietly once Sophia had closed her eyes. She did just that. He couldn't help but gulp at the view of her creamy white skin.
He looked up at her as he moved his hands together quicker still, making sure she was fine with what he was about to do.
When she nodded, he pulled his hands apart and placed them under her navel, letting the heat from the friction of his calloused hands seep into her skin.
She sighed breathily at the sensation of his hands on her skin, his palms pressing down into the muscle.
He felt lightheaded as his thumbs brushed under the waistband of her sleep pants, brushing what felt like a soft tuft of hair.
He muttered an apology- fingers still lightly digging into her skin.
'Just a muscle. Nothing more. Shoulder. Leg. Just a muscle. If it gets her to lay down and quit whining so I can sleep. We'll all be happier in the morning.' He told himself, willing the horror (and that faint arousal) away.
"That- ah-" he swallowed. ''Better?" He asked after a moment or two more.
"Yes." She nodded as he pulled his hands away. She found herself missing the touch already. "That was blissful. Thank you."
He grunted, saying nothing else before laying back down between his girls, fluffing Buttercup and Bubbles under his ears.
"Night Daryl." He heard a while later as a kiss was placed to his temple.
He said nothing. Feigning sleep.
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That morning, he woke with the sun (as he usually did) both rising over the trees and in his chest.
Both arms were asleep and he had an uncomfortable digging in his side. (Sophia's left knee. Bony damned thing)
But as he opened his eyes and found Sophia and Carol both curled around his chest, both arms thrown around their shoulders protectively. He couldn't help but feel a strange tingling warmth spread through out his body at the dawn of a new day.
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OKAY! SO! I have been trying to get a Zombie Apocalypse/Walking Dead style/Survival Roleplay game up on tumblr.
Everything is set up, we just need players! there's premade bio's and we're open to Original characters! And I would SO love to see some applications sent in!
The address is those-underground-rpg dOt tumblr dOt com
Seriously! please! take a look at the plot and if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer 'em!
Thanks so much!
Hannah/J&H
(for feathers because ff is a pain in the buttox)
(why did that come out in a Forrist Gump voice?)