She was already gone when Daryl woke up. He hated when she snuck out of bed. It was selfish, he knew it, but he loved waking up with her. But today he couldn't really expect anything else. He wondered how long she slept for. He had a feeling it wasn't very long at all.
He stopped in the infirmary on the way to the bathroom. Lori was in there watching over his brother. "How's he doing?"
Lori looked over. "Woke up for a little while. He asked about you. Stella's going to be back in a few minutes. She's just checking on Carol, who's awake."
Daryl nodded. "I'll go see her after I get something to eat. Do you need anything?" When Lori shook her head Daryl headed outside.
When he stepped out the door he was surprised at how high the sun was in the sky. It had to be after noon. He headed down to see what was available for food. He looked in the pot and grimaced. Still, it was food. He was heating it up when Glenn walked over.
"You're pretty brave. Sorry about that man. With all the women except Andrea or Michonne either laid up or working in the infirmary, I had to cook this morning. I asked Andrea to, but you know her. Think she regretted it after she tasted what I made."
"I didn't cook it, so I got no right to complain. How's Maggie?" Daryl dished some out and started throwing the food back as fast as he could so he didn't have to taste it. Still, it was pretty bad.
"She's sleeping. She's pretty sore. Saw Stella this morning. Said she should take it easy for a while. Said that the baby was fine too."
Daryl's eyes whipped up to Glenn. He swallowed hard, choking down the mouthful of food. "Baby? But then why would Maggie agree...?"
"To fight?" At Daryl's nod he said, "You know Maggie. Can't tell her anything. She said that if we didn't have enough people we'd lose, that she and the baby would be killed anyway. Hershel put up more of a fuss than I did. Stella made us tell him since if something happened he'd need to know. I don't think I'd ever been so scared in my life." A blush crept up Glenn's cheeks.
Daryl sat back, stunned. After a moment he laughed and grabbed Glenn, swinging him around. When he sat him back down he slapped him hard on the back. "A baby! God damn Glenn. Congratulations!"
Glenn's smile reached ear to ear. "We're gonna be getting married too. Hershel's gonna do it in a few days."
Daryl was stunned. "This is some news. I'm happy for you." He shook his head. "A baby, wow."
Glenn started to laugh. "That was my reaction when Stella told us. We'd been so careful that I didn't think there was anyway it would happen, but it did. I gotta tell you man. I've never been so happy."
"Well give Maggie a big kiss for me. Tell her I said congratulations." Daryl was smiling as he headed back inside.
He dropped his bowl off and headed down to see Carol. When he walked in he got another surprise. Tyreese was sitting by Carol's bed holding her hand.
"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," Daryl said uncomfortably. "I just wanted to check and see how you're doing. I can come back."
Tyreese chuckled. "It's alright, I've got to see about helping outside anyway. I'll see you later," he said to Carol. He brought her hand to his lips and and kissed the back of it.
Daryl had no idea what was going on today. He felt like he went to sleep and woke up in a different world.
"Come sit down before you fall over Daryl." Carol was smiling.
"So you and Tyreese? How long has that been going on?" Daryl just needed to make sure he knew what he saw.
Carol looked down, her cheeks pink. Daryl couldn't help but think how young and innocent it made her look. "It hasn't, not really. I liked him, and this morning I woke up and there he was. Seems he liked me too."
Daryl just looked down at Carol, astonishment written all over his face. Still, she looked so happy. He cleared his throat, "Um, well... that's nice Carol." It was going to take some time to get used to the idea. He changed the subject. "How're you feeling today?"
"Good, better than I thought I would actually. Stella was in here this morning. She said everything looks really good. You just missed her actually. She was headed back to the infirmary." Carol smiled. It was permission for him to go.
Daryl stood up. "I'll come see you later. You take it easy today." He headed down to see her.
She was washing surgical instruments in a basin when he came in. Half the table was covered with instruments laid out to dry. She turned as he walked through the door. "Hey, you're up." She didn't stop washing the instruments, just twisted to give him a quick kiss.
"Did you get any sleep?" Daryl leaned against the table.
"A few hours. Had to let Hershel get some. Oh, I'm going to be in here tonight." She held up a hand as his mouth opened. "I'll take a nap. But both Hershel and Beth were up all last night. It's only fair."
He picked up a strand of hair that had come loose from her bun and started running it through his fingers. "So, what you said yesterday about things changing... I'm not in for any more surprises am I?" Daryl asked warily. There was only so much change he could take.
"Why? What changes are you talking about?" Stella stared at the basin intently.
"I talked to Glenn this morning." He waited. Stella kept looking down. "He told me about the baby."
Stella smiled and turned to look at him. "Isn't it great? It took them both about two seconds to get over the shock before they were thrilled. Although I thought for a second Glenn was going to pass out." She laughed at the memory.
"Glenn said something that made me think." He stopped and Stella looked at him expectantly. He didn't know how to ask, so he just blurted it out. "You're not pregnant are you?" Stella looked shocked. "It's just that he said they had been careful, and we haven't exactly.."
"No, no. I have an IUD. I have another year or so before it has to come out." Stella rushed to assure him. "Sorry, I guess I should have told you, but I didn't really think about it." Relief swept through him, but there was something else too. Disappointment? He wondered how he would have felt if she had said something different.
Stella's voice broke into his thoughts. "Is that all?" When he looked at her she expanded. "Is that all the surprises you've had this morning?" Her lips twitched as she tried not to smile.
"No, I went in to Carol's room this morning and Tyreese was with her." He still wasn't over the shock of that one. "Why do I get the feeling you weren't surprised?"
"He watches her all the time, and she was forever looking at his hands." Confusion showed on Daryl's face. "When a woman is staring at a man's hands, she's picturing all the things he could do to her with them." Stella wrapped her arms around his neck. "I happen to look at your hands all the time."
The next few days were extremely busy. There were the funerals for Allen and Sasha, and the massive clean up from the fight. They managed to get a fair amount of weapons and ammunition in addition to the armored trucks that had been left behind.
Merle was recovering slowly, and was driving everyone crazy. Beth flat out refused to go into his room anymore. Finally Stella had gone in there and threatened that not only would no one come help him anymore, but she'd make sure he didn't get any more pain killers. Merle started behaving better.
Although Maggie and Glenn were willing just to have Hershel say a few words for the wedding, the other women nixed that idea.
"Oh no." Stella had said. "A wedding is special. Besides, we have to wait for Carol to get better. It'll give us time to get some things together." Lori, Stella, Beth and Maggie took to going out everyday to get supplies. He had no idea of what they got, but there was usually a lot of things in the SUV when they got back. They wouldn't allow anyone to see what was in the bags.
On the morning of the wedding, Daryl watched as Stella walked over to her car with a screwdriver and climb in the back. He walked over to the rear of the SUV and looked in. Stella was trying to pry a panel off the interior wall. "Whatcha doing?" he asked.
Stella jumped a mile. The screwdriver popped out and she slammed her hand into the side. "Oww!" She started shaking her hand. "Didn't I talk to you about sneaking up on people?" Daryl climbed in the back with her and took her hand to look at it. "I'm fine. Can you pry that off?"
Daryl picked up the screwdriver and removed the panel. He reached in and pulled out two cases and a black felt bag. He passed them over to her. She set aside the two cases and opened up the felt bag and dumped the contents on the floor. It was a jumble of different jewelry. Daryl knew enough to know that everything was real. He had known that she'd had a comfortable lifestyle, but Jesus, there was a lot of money sitting on the floor between them.
He watched as she quickly searched through till she found what she was looking for. She picked up what had to be her engagement ring. Dropping it quickly in Daryl's palm she started scooping everything back into the bag. When she was done she looked up and started chuckling at Daryl's shocked expression. "There was so much looting, I didn't want to leave any of it behind. I never did get around to insuring most of it." She looked down at the ring in his hand. "Will you give that to Glenn? If he doesn't want to use it, it's fine. Tell him not to feel obligated. But if he was looking for something.. well, I'd be happy to give it to them." She gathered up everything else. "I'm going to go see if Maggie wants to wear any of this today." She gave him a peck on the cheek and climbed out past him.
It took Daryl a few minutes to climb out of the SUV. He was having a hard time getting over the fact he was holding a piece of jewelry that was worth more money than he had ever made in a single year. Or two. It was so like her to give it away.
Daryl walked over to where Glenn was standing. "Glenn." He extended his arm. As soon as Glenn held out his hand, Daryl dropped the ring in his palm. "Stella asked me to give this to you. Said that if you didn't want to use it, don't feel like you have to."
Glenn started down at the ring in his palm. A bright smile lit up his face. "I've been looking for something, but all the stores are cleared out. Tell her thank you."
Just then Stella and Lori came out carting bags of things. Stella waved him over. "There's a bunch of stuff in one of the supply rooms. Can you grab a couple of guys and have them help you to bring them up?" She turned and started pulling things out without waiting for his answer.
Rick started laughing and slapped him on the back. "Looks like the honeymoon's over. Come on, they'll get antsy if we take too long." Together they went to cart all the supplies out to the yard.
Daryl was amazed when he opened the storage room door. This was what they were all doing locked in here at night. There were large pots filled with silk flowers, candles in little glass things, bottles of wine and glasses to go with it. Rick whistled. "Where do you think they found all this?"
Daryl looked over at him with a pained expression on his face. "I've learned not to ask. I usually don't like the answer she gives me."
It was amazing what the women did with the yard. Tablecloths were spread out with candles and vases of flowers. They had managed to create an aisle with the pots. Tiki torches were placed sporadically around the yard, ready to be lit. Dinner was all prepped and ready to be cooked as soon as the ceremony was over.
When Daryl walked into their room after taking a shower he felt his jaw drop open. Stella was just putting in a pair of earrings. She was wearing a strapless purple dress that came to just above her knees. The bodice was tight and flared at her hips. There was a wide black belt circling her waist. She had even done something fancy to her hair. It was pulled back in the front but tumbled down her back in curls. She smiled at him as she stepped into the pair of heels in front of her.
Daryl moved slowly over to her. He took her hand and turned her around. "You look amazing." It was an understatement, but he couldn't get his brain to function.
"Well I'm glad you think so. I got you some new clothes too."
He started to protest when she grabbed a bag, but stopped when she pulled out a cotton button down and a dark pair of jeans. "What? You didn't think I was going to make you wear a suit did you?"
"I had no idea what you were going to pull out of there. This'll work though." The clothes were well made but he'd still be able to wear them for everyday things.
Stella laughed. "I happen to love the way you look in jeans. Wouldn't have it any other way. Now hurry up or we'll get there after the bride." She turned back to the mirror and started applying her make-up.
When they stepped out into the hall Lori was hurrying down. She too had on a new dress and heels. Even Judith was decked out for the occasion. "Oh good, you guys heading out? I was just coming to see. Maggie's all ready so she's going to head up in a few minutes. I think everyone else is already there."
When they stepped outside Daryl looked around. It seemed as if everyone got a new pair of clothes for the occasion. Glenn was even wearing a suit. Between that and the decorations in the yard, it was almost possible to forget what was going on. "This is really something ladies."
Lori was the one that answered. "Maggie kept saying that it was silly with everything, but I'm really glad we did it. A wedding should be special, and although we may be somewhat limited in what we could do, she deserves the best wedding we can give her. I think she's really glad now. You should have seen her face when she looked in the mirror after she was all done getting dressed."
They had reached the rest of the group and were mingling around talking. Even Merle had joined in, though Stella told him absolutely no wine. Daryl wondered how long it would take before Merle snuck a glass or two.
At no signal he noticed, Rick pressed play on the iPod and Johnny Cash's 'Rose of my Heart' began playing. The group turned, instinctively separating for Maggie to be able to walk down the middle.
Maggie looked gorgeous. She was wearing a simple strapless wedding gown and had a large ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings and bracelet on. Now Daryl knew what was in the cases.
Maggie positively glowed as she walked down the aisle with Beth. She reached Glenn and took his hand. They turned to Hershel but he was so overcome it took him a moment to begin. The ceremony was short and sweet. When Glenn kissed Maggie everyone clapped and cheered.
Soon the venison from the deer Daryl had brought back yesterday was cooking along with all the other sides the women had prepared. The wine was opened, and glasses were passed around to everyone. Stella relented and even allowed Merle a small glass.
Stella was dancing a slow song with Rick after dinner when she looked over and smiled at him. Daryl realized that for the first time ever, he felt truly happy. He always thought he was, but now, now he could see that he had just been going through the motions. She made him so happy. The fact that he could just sit and watch her as she went about her day, that she was the first thing he thought of when he got up in the morning, it all made him happy. And seeing her smile, this special smile that was only for him, he knew he would never be able to let her go.
Daryl got up from his seat and walked over to the dancing couple. Tapping Rick's shoulder he asked, "Do you mind?"
Rick smiled, "Should probably see about asking Lori to dance anyway."
Daryl took her in his arms. "Thought you said you never dance," Stella said.
He looked down into her eyes. "Well it's a special occasion."
Stella looked around at everyone dancing and laughing. "It is. It's so wonderful isn't it?"
He shook his head. "Not just the wedding. I realized that I love you. That I've loved you from the beginning. That I've just been too afraid to say it, but I was just being stupid. I want to be with you always. I want us to have a life together."
A slow smile spread across her face. "I know you love me. I've always known. But I love hearing it." She kissed him deeply. "And I love you too."
This is not the end... just so we're clear. There will be another chapter today.