AN: OK, another little chapter for you, moving forward with our couple. Lots of things on the horizon, but we'll get to them in their due time!
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
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Daryl showed up at the house for their "date" at the hour Carol had appointed him. When he got there she was grinning ear to ear as she held the door open for him. He couldn't have avoided smiling back at her if he'd wanted to. The smile was absolutely contagious.
"What's got into ya?" He asked as she shut the door behind him.
Daryl turned around to face her and she was still smiling. He felt like he could barely breathe for the moment. He swallowed hard.
"It's just been a busy day," she said. "And a good one. Michonne's been spoiling me…spoiling us."
"What'd she do?" Daryl asked. The news was nothing new. Michonne had a tendency to do things for Carol on a regular basis.
"Well, she and Ty got a new television, so we've got a new old television…and a new old DVD player…and I borrowed a movie for us to watch tonight," Carol said. "And she gave me some things for the baby. You want to see?"
Daryl smiled at her. He wasn't sure if she was asking if he wanted to see things for the baby or if he wanted to see the television, but he was willing to look at whatever had her grinning like an idiot.
"Sure," he said with a chuckle.
Carol took his hand and started leading him through the house so he figured they were probably going to look at baby things. He'd noticed that in the past couple of days she would talk about other things and do other things, but that kid stayed right at the front of her brain. It was always on her mind. He didn't really know if all women were like that, but Carol certainly was.
Daryl followed Carol into the nursery. There was a table of sorts in there that wasn't in there when he'd come in to see the crib and there was also an old dresser.
"The changing table was an extra she had in the attic…someone gave it to her and she only needed one so she kept it," Carol said, walking over and rubbing her fingertips across the table. "The dresser needs to be redone to be nice, but it works for now."
Daryl walked over and looked at the dresser. It was a nice old piece. Really all it needed was a good sanding and to be re-stained and it would be good as new. Some knew hardware wouldn't hurt it either.
"I could fix the dresser for ya," Daryl said. He turned to look at Carol and she was still beaming.
"Really?" She asked. "I was going to see if Andrea would help me fix it…but if you want to do it…"
Daryl chuckled.
"Well now if ya want ta do it with Andrea then I'll let'cha," he said, "but it ain't no problem for me ta fix it. Just gon' need ta move it prob'ly under the carport out there on an old sheet or somethin' an' I can sand it down an' stain it. Won't even take a weekend."
Carol squealed a little and before he knew it she was hugging him. He chuckled a little and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her a little. After a second she relaxed, but stayed there, her head resting on his chest.
"What movie did'ja get us?" Daryl asked. He figured it was some chick flick, she loved the hell out of those things. When they'd lived in her apartment she'd watch nearly every damn one she could find on television.
"It's an old movie," Carol said. "It's called Yours, Mine, and Ours. It's got Lucille Ball in it."
Daryl took a second to rub his hand down her back. The truth was he didn't care at all what movie they watched. He was just glad she was letting him stay to watch it.
"Where's Andrea?" He asked, not wanting to break away from the hug any sooner than he absolutely had to.
"She's out with Axel," Carol said. "They went to a two for one movie night down at the cinema."
"So they watchin' movies in town an' we watchin' movies here?" Daryl asked.
Carol pulled away then looking up at him.
"Would you rather go into town?" She asked.
Daryl smiled and shook his head.
"Nah…I reckon we got the better deal here," he said.
"Let's go get the movie set up then," Carol said. "I'll make popcorn and it'll be just like being there."
Daryl followed her back through the house and sat on the couch with Lincoln while she set up the movie and went into the kitchen to get popcorn going in the microwave. Daryl slipped out of his shoes and got comfortable. At least watching movies at the house meant they didn't have to maintain the etiquette required in public.
"What's your favorite movie?" Carol called over the bar that separated the living room from the kitchen.
"What?" Daryl asked.
"Your favorite movie," Carol repeated. "What is it?"
Daryl hadn't really thought about it before. They didn't watch a lot of movies when he was growing up and he really wasn't a huge fan of movies. Sometimes he'd gone to see them in one shit town or another that he'd lived in, but mostly it had been to kill time that wouldn't die otherwise and he hadn't bothered to learn the names of most of what he'd seen.
"Don't know," he said. "Reckon I don't got one."
Carol came around and brought him a glass of tea. The lack of furniture made him look around for what he was supposed to do with it when he wasn't holding it and she frowned.
"I know…" she said. "We don't have much furniture."
He watched as she went to the dining room and drug one of the chairs out of there and over to the side of the couch for him to balance the glass on. He would have helped, but honestly she had it under control before he'd really realized what she was doing.
"You can be the keeper of the glasses," Carol said. "I'll get the popcorn and we're ready."
Carol came back to the room a few minutes later with the popcorn and moved Lincoln, against his wishes, down to the other end of the couch, sitting down and snuggling against Daryl. He smiled to himself and thought that he really like the idea of movies at the house.
"Do you have a favorite actor or actress?" Carol asked, the remote in her hand but the movie still waiting to be started.
Daryl reached his arm around her and rubbed at her arm, just at the crook of her elbow.
"Don't know," he said. "Guess I kinda like John Wayne."
Carol looked at him and smiled.
"Looks like we'll have to get some Westerns then," she said. "I don't mind John Wayne. I love Lucille Ball. She's so funny…and did you know she never really even tried to be? It wasn't supposed to be her thing, it just sort of happened. I saw a documentary on it once."
Daryl chuckled.
"Ya sure wound up tonight," Daryl said.
"I'm sorry," Carol said, resting her head against his chest again.
"Don't start that shit," Daryl warned. He knew that Carol had times when she got started apologizing about things and then it was damn near impossible to get her to stop. "I like it…I guess I just weren't expectin' it."
"What were you expecting?" She asked, sitting up a little and looking at him as she ate the popcorn methodically, biting off little pieces of each puff as though popcorn was supposed to be more than a one bite deal.
"I figured ya was gonna be…I don't know…kinda mad at me still," Dary said.
"Daryl, I told you that I'm not mad at you," Carol said. "That's not the point of this. I'm not mad and you're not being punished. The point of this is…well…it's just this. It's just us getting to know each other and spending some time with each other. I don't want to be mad at you."
Daryl moved his other hand, the one not wrapped around her shoulder, and rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
"I don't want'cha ta be mad at me neither," he said. "Can I kiss ya or is that off limits for this date?"
Carol smiled and leaned up toward him and he brought his lips to hers. He kissed her softly, barely teasing her with his tongue and caught her lip with his teeth. When he pulled away she was staring at him with the somewhat drunken look she got when she was turned on and then she cleared her throat.
"Let's start the movie," she said.
Daryl chuckled. This wasn't going to be fast. She'd meant what she said about them taking their time. The kiss had gotten to her, though, and it had gotten to him. If they'd held it for too much longer he wouldn't have been able to will himself not to pitch a tent in his pants like he was some fucking teenager making out at the movies.
Daryl shifted a little and Carol settled down against him again, pushing play on the movie.
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Carol was glad she'd seen the movie about four hundred times in her life because she surely wasn't concentrating on it right this minute. She thought this was important for them…the whole taking it slow. It was something that she felt like they really needed if they were going to go at this relationship again and have a chance of it actually working this time instead of ending in one of them running in the other direction.
It was killing her, though, to keep arm's distance between the two of them, so to speak. She wasn't really sure, since she hadn't fully worked the details out for herself in her head, exactly what they were allowed to do and what they weren't allowed to do. She didn't know if it would be OK for them to sleep together or not. On the one hand her brain argued that they'd already slept together plenty of times…after all, she didn't get pregnant from drinking after him…but on the other hand she worried that sleeping together might make it too easy to move to him spending the night…and then another night…until he'd just easily moved back in and they'd abandoned the entire plan without so much as a second thought.
She wasn't really sure, as far as dating went, when it was OK to sleep with a man. When she'd been dating Ed, which was really her only experience before this, she'd waited until she was married to be with him. That meant that she didn't really have that as a reference point.
She could go by her friends, but that wasn't much help. Andrea slept with who she wanted to sleep with when she wanted to sleep with them. From the stories she told she'd slept with Merle before she ever considered dating him. She'd really viewed that as being something, in the beginning, like what Merle thought it was…just sex. According to Andrea she'd never really out and out dated anyone…at least not officially…until Axel. Now the two of them were dating, but Carol knew that…at least until tonight because she didn't know what might happen after the double feature…Andrea hadn't slept with Axel yet.
And then there was Michonne. All Carol really knew about her dating life was that she had pretty much the same mentality as Andrea. She slept with who she felt like sleeping with in the exact moment that she felt like it was right. She'd slept with Tyreese before she considered him anything more than just her Adonis.
So Carol wasn't really sure how long she was supposed to "date" Daryl before it was OK for them to consider having sex with him again.
She brooded over it while they watched the movie. To the point, in fact, that when the movie went off, she hardly even realized that it was over and that they'd left their drinks and popcorn almost abandoned since she'd started it. She wouldn't have even really paid attention to the fact that it was over if Daryl hadn't reached over her and picked up the remote, switching the thing off.
Carol sat up, then, realizing that Daryl was sweating where she'd been leaning against him. She was damp and his clothes were sticking to him, wet with his sweat and hers.
"You didn't tell me you were hot," Carol said, rubbing at the wet spot on his shirt.
Daryl pulled the clinging fabric away from his skin and sighed a little.
"Didn't matter," he said. "Ya like a oven, though. Ya feelin' OK?"
Carol thought about it. She was pretty sure she felt fine. She wrinkled her eyebrows.
"I think I'm fine," she said.
Daryl nodded a little.
"OK," he said. "Just checkin'…ya hotter than ya usually is…" He chuckled after a minute. "An' even though I always think ya hot I meant temperature wise this time."
Carol smiled at him.
"I think I'm fine," she said. "Did you like the movie?"
"Yeah…" Daryl said. "I like it. That'd be some shit to have that many damn kids, wouldn't it?"
Carol chuckled.
"I think that might be a few too many," she said.
Daryl shifted around, turning so he could face her better. It was pretty dark in the living room, but Carol didn't feel like moving to turn any lights on. The glow from the kitchen light that she'd left on would have to suffice for now. Daryl didn't seem to be complaining though.
Daryl fiddled with her hair for a moment, looking at her in a way that almost made her uncomfortable. Then he moved his hand to cup her face and she felt him brush his thumb across her lips before he swallowed visibly and moved in to kiss her again.
Carol felt like her body would explode. Her breathing picked up immediately and she fought back the urge to moan. She'd wanted to be with Daryl every time they'd been together, but the way she felt right now was electric to her by any standards. She wanted him bad enough that, if she let herself go, she felt like she'd hurt him trying to get his clothes off fast enough to make her happy. She fought it, though, telling herself she'd only them to kiss…to make out like teenagers maybe…but she wasn't letting it go all the way.
Daryl pulled away, his own breathing heavy, and Carol had to admire that he was obviously trying to hold back as well. It made her feel better that she didn't have to be the bad guy and say no to something that they both wanted.
"So how many damn kids ya want?" Daryl asked. "I think like twenty's way too damn many…but how many ya want?"
Carol shifted and slid a little away from him, ignoring the protests of her body. She drew her legs up under her on the couch.
"I don't know," she said. She laughed a little to herself. "I always said I wanted six…but I don't know if I actually want six or if it was just a number that I threw to myself."
"Well now this is serious," Daryl said. "If we gettin' ta know each other so we can be happy together for the rest a' our fuckin' lives, we need ta know how many damn kids we gon' have."
Carol chuckled. He was teasing with her, but she could tell that under his teasing there was at least a hint of sincerity.
"How many do you want?" She asked.
Daryl bit at his lip.
"Ain't never thought about it," he said. "I figured you'd know how damn many we was gonna have."
"Well I shouldn't be the only one to decide," Carol said. "You've got an opinion too. You said twenty was too many…so how many is just enough?"
Daryl chuckled and raised his eyebrows at her.
"Ya want twenty?" He asked.
Carol shook her head.
"No, I don't want twenty," she said. "I want to know how many you want."
Daryl thought about it for a minute and Carol took some of the popcorn out of the bag, offering it to Lincoln who was nudging her back with his nose from the couch cushion he apparently was considering some sort of prison.
"Well ya said six," Daryl said. "Ya like six?"
"Mmm…" Carol hummed. "I don't know…six is a lot now that I'm really thinking about it."
Daryl chuckled.
"How 'bout we split it then? We say three? Wouldn't mind more if we had 'em, but we can call three a nice number," Daryl said.
Carol thought about it a minute.
"But then we have a middle child," she said. "And then you've got all that poor middle child business. I think we need an even number. Two or four?"
"Hell…" Daryl said after a minute, "My part in this shit's pretty damn easy. Ya the one that's pregnant. How many fuckin' times ya wanna do this? Two or four?"
Carol nodded her head.
"That's a good point," she said. "I like how you think. Let's wait until this one's born and then we'll talk about it."
Daryl nodded his head.
"Sounds fair enough," he said. "Ain't like we can have any a' the others until this one gets here no damn way."
Carol smiled at him.
"You're right," she said. "There's no room at the inn…this one has to evacuate long before we have to make a decision about another one. Still, it's good to know where we both stand on these things. That way we don't have to argue about it later if we don't agree on how many we want."
Daryl shrugged.
"That ain't shit ta argue about right there," he said. "I reckon I don't really care. I think I'd go fuckin' nuts with twenty kids runnin' around, but if they made ya fuckin' happy I could deal with it. We'd need a bigger fuckin' house, though, that's for damn sure!"
Carol laughed.
"Yeah…let's just hold off on the twenty…if that's alright with you," she said.
"Fine with me, woman," Daryl said, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her back toward him despite the fact that she'd made him sweat earlier.
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Daryl thought the night had been a good one. It had been so good, in fact, that he really didn't want it to end. They hadn't really done much of anything and he'd done his best to be on the best behavior he could possibly be on. Physically they'd cuddled a little on the couch, kissed a few times…but that was it. He'd even willed himself to keep from sliding a hand to cup Carol's breast, even though his brain…or whichever one of them was functioning at the moment…had offered him that suggestion a few times.
They'd talked about this future together that they were supposedly going to have. Things they wanted and didn't want. Most of them were things that Daryl hadn't really thought about, but he'd liked thinking about them and he'd liked talking about them with Carol and daydreaming that they'd come true.
What he'd mostly thought, and what he hadn't said to her, though, was that he hoped that whenever this trial period was over and whenever their dating thing was done that he would know how to do things right. Somehow they would hold it together and they'd work this out so that all the things they'd talked about and all the things that they'd planned really turned out to be more than just daydreams.
It was killing him to know that, as Axel and Andrea interrupted them coming home from their date and reminding Carol that he had to eventually leave, he had to get back and his truck and drive to the Greene farm to sleep alone in the little apartment that he was hating at the moment. He wanted to stay there with her and he wanted to sleep with her. He wanted to be back in the house and have permission to kiss her and touch her whenever he wanted like he'd had before. But he was determined to try to keep control of himself. If this was what they really needed, and if this was what it was going to take to get them both over all the shit that they needed to get the hell over, so that they could actually quit dreaming about making shit work and actually make it work, then he could damn well keep control of himself for however damn long it took. He just had to learn how to shut the impatient little fucker up that lived inside him and hoped it didn't take too damn long.