Separated
Carol kept busy; the basement got reorganized. She did laundry and made lists of things they would need in the coming winter. She was house bound; she would be keeping a low profile for the next few days while her non-existing bruises faded. She cleaned the bathroom and made dinner. She thought the evening was going to be very long.
After dinner Rick and Tyreese went out to check on house sites. Rick and Andrea had decided to build a log cabin close to the home place. They had spent the day gathering brochures on different log cabin packages. Andrea, Michonne, and Carol went through the different brochures trying to find the best one. They decided to have each person pick the one they liked best and narrow the field down a little. Carol picked a two story cabin with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Michonne picked a ranch style house with a garage. Andrea picked a two story with three bedrooms and two baths. They went with Andrea's choice; they were changing the windows. No one felt comfortable with large windows on the ground floor. Rick and Tyreese came in before dark and they went through their choices. Rick liked Carol's bigger house; he reminded Andrea that they were living in a house with four bedrooms and they were all filled. The final decision was to go with Rick's choice.
Andrea laughed, "I always wanted to live in a castle". Rick held her hand, "I hope you still think so when you are lifting blocks and carrying mortar." Rick thought about how castle were built to protect those inside their walls and the enemy outside of them. He kissed Andrea's hand, "My Queen, your castle is on its way".
Carol was wishing that Daryl was here to look at the plans; he had years of practical experience in construction. No one was talking about Daryl tonight but his presence was in the room. He knew how to lay block; he and Merle had worked all sorts of construction jobs. If he were hereā¦.but he wasn't and she would have to get used to being separated from him.
TWD TWD TWD TWD
Daryl couldn't sleep and decided to go see if there was anyone hanging out in the commons area. He might find someone to talk to, he looked at his bruised face in the bathroom mirror, and he looked the part of a brawler for sure.
The commons area was pretty full. The lights were turned off to save energy but there were a couple of oil lamps on opposite sides of the room and candles scattered here and there. Downright romantic he thought and thought of Carol perched on a bus after they had taken the prison yard and flirting with him. She had scampered around the prison yard that afternoon so excited about having so much room to move in. Better not think of her tonight. He had a job to do.
He thought about Merle; he would wade into this group and make friends and foes alike. It would be better to ease in slow, and he took a seat away from any groups so that he could keep an eye on them. The guys he would look for wouldn't be from Woodbury, and he watched the two groups of men playing cards. He figured that one of those groups would be the men who were gathering information.
Two other sets of eyes were trained on Daryl; he could feel himself being scrutinized. He glanced over to see who was watching the watcher. He recognized two Woodburyites, one was a man named Kevin from up north somewhere and the other was woman named Connie who used to work in the kitchen with Carol at the prison. They didn't look embarrassed to be caught staring. He gave them his meanest toughest look that should have sent them cowering to their rooms. They just smiled and waved. Shit, Daryl thought, nosy Nellies wanting to know all the details from his fall from grace.
Kevin Connolly had retired from the Alexandria Police Department three years ago. He had liked working in Alexandria, an affluent suburban community in the Washington DC. Area, but decided to retire closer to his brother who had retired to a Georgia senior citizen community. Kevin had been divorced far longer than he had been married and had no children. He had moved in a condo close to his brother just in time for everything to go completely to shit. He had been lucky enough to wind up in Woodbury but his brother had been bitten and Kevin had to kill him before he turned. Kevin had not enjoyed life in Woodbury but one look over the walls and he knew that his options were limited. He had liked the prison well enough and he liked this mountain town even better. He was hoping to spend his golden years with the woman that he loved, Connie Stewart.
Connie Stewart had retired from working as a high school librarian five years ago and had been married for longer than she cared to remember. Her husband had chased after every woman in their small town with her only consolation being that at least the town wasn't very large. She had stayed married because her religion frowned on divorce and he was a good father to their children. She waited until her last child went to college to initiate divorce proceedings and then her husband had a heart attack. She took care of him during his cardiac rehab and he having faced death changed his ways. He became a faithful loving husband. When the ZA hit they had tried to escape in their Tahoe. He stood his ground and shot down approaching walkers while she got their Tahoe out of the garage. He had been bitten and when she had pulled the vehicle up to him he held up his arm with the bite on it. She had put the window down; he kissed her goodbye, and waved her on. She saw him point the pistol at his head in her rear view mirror. She kept on going and somehow wound up at Woodbury, the prison, and now this town with Kevin.
Kevin and Connie had convinced Joaquin to let them stay here at the nursing home and serve as caretakers of the place. They were keeping the place operational, the new arrivals clothed and fed, and eye out for walkers and other unsavory characters. They had gone to Carol and Daryl's wedding and reception, and had never seen a happier couple. The wedding was just a few weeks ago and for it go so wrong so fast just didn't compute with Kevin.
Daryl was not surprised when Kevin came over and sat down beside him. Kevin got a good look at Daryl's beat up face and made note that Daryl's knuckles were not bruised at all. Kevin asked Daryl if he needed anything. Daryl muttered, "I got everything I need, I don't need a lot of shit like some people." Kevin patted Daryl on the back and said that breakfast would be at seven in the morning. The work crews would leave around 7:30 but he and Connie could use some help doing some maintenance tomorrow if he wanted to stay back. Daryl shook his head no; he would just as soon go out and get started.
Kevin wandered back to Connie and they checked again all the doors and entrances to make certain that they were secure. Kevin wondered if they should worry more about who they were locked it with that what might be outside. The last two groups of men looked like men who had spent time in lots of locked rooms to him. Daryl looked like he would fit in with them.
At 10:00 everyone was expected to go to their rooms, Kevin checked the lamps and candles to make certain that there were no fire hazards and checked the halls. He went back to the room that he shared with Connie. She seemed to find if amusing that she was living in sin at her age. He offered to marry her, but she said that marriage would just mess up her Social Security. Connie had a quirky sense of humor for sure.
Connie wanted the scoop on Daryl; she had seen the intent look on Kevin's face. Something about Daryl being here wasn't sitting right with him. Connie had worked with Carol in the kitchen and in the library. Carol adored Daryl and he seemed to think God had appointed him as Carol's personal watch dog. Their argument had fueled prison gossip for days; Carol and Daryl mad at each other was like the sun deciding to come up in the west. It just wasn't natural. Daryl had dragged around the prison for weeks refusing to apologize and Carol wasn't budging an inch. She had been working with Carol in the kitchen the day that Daryl had come in all cleaned up. Beth had nudged her when she saw Daryl talking to Carol. Tyreese had interrupted them but Daryl looked so damn sweet trying to get back with Carol. It must have worked because the next gossip was that Daryl was sneaking around with Michonne and Tyreese trying to learn how to dance so that he could dance with Carol at a wedding. She had been at the reception when Daryl showed up in dress clothes and had danced with Carol. Connie and Kevin had been handing out drinks when they danced by. They had looked at each other with tears in their eyes. She fell in love with Kevin because he cried seeing Daryl and Carol so happy; Daryl wasn't the only one who got lucky that night.
Kevin came in their room. "Connie," he began, "Something isn't right here. Daryl's face is beat up, but his knuckles don't show a scratch. No way Daryl is going to let somebody beat on him and not fight back. "Kevin, "she answered, "There is no way Daryl hit Carol. He wouldn't do it and if he did he wouldn't be here. He would either kill himself or run off somewhere far away from her."
"Okay, we agree that there is something wrong about this. Joaquin is in on it, because he was sort of hanging around today, he was waiting for Daryl to show up, "Kevin said.
"He is working undercover, the whole hit Carol story is just a cover for him being here, so what would be so compelling that Daryl would leave Carol and stay down here?" Connie asked.
Kevin hated that Connie had jumped the gun with the undercover story. He was hoping to stretch it out. This was the most interesting thing to happen since they got here and Connie had figured it out before he could build his case for Daryl being a narc. "He was watching the new guys, maybe there is something not right about them? Maybe they think that they are dangerous for some reason, but how would they know anything about them?"
Connie thought for a while, "Daryl is looking for something. We had better keep this to ourselves, but you might talk to Daryl and let him know that we won't say anything. Tell Daryl that we know that he wouldn't have hurt Carol and we know how to keep our mouths shut".
Kevin agreed," it's not petty theft or somebody using drugs. It's something bad. This isn't a game, Connie. Maybe you should take an assignment working in the hospital and stay over there until this is cleared up."
Connie said, "Not going to happen, I will just go on being in the background. They won't pay any attention to me. I am just the old lady who hands out the oatmeal. "
