AN: So it's been a pretty long day here and I've got a lot of those in my future, which means I'll only get to write late at night. That being said…well…if it's not superb, please forgive me until further notice! LOL I will do my best to write when I can though, for those of you who are still enjoying the story and want the rest of it.
I'm so glad that you seemed to really enjoy the wedding. Here's a little after wedding/reception chapter for you. Sort of character check-in, if you will.
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Daryl didn't really know what was supposed to happen during a reception, and he was a little overwhelmed with the fact that everyone's eyes were on him and Carol both, but he was enjoying the thought of it all.
They all gathered in the house, cramped at first in the kitchen, and under the instruction of Miss Jo he and Carol were supposed to cut the cake that she'd made and feed each other cake.
In his life, Daryl couldn't remember ever having been to a wedding, but everyone assured him this was normal practice, so he did what they instructed him to do and standing next to the bar he tried to accept the cake that Carol offered him with as much poise as he possibly could, painfully aware that everyone was watching him and Michonne was busy taking pictures of everything. When he'd eaten his bite of the cake he picked up a piece and held it out for Carol and she smiled at him and took it out of his fingers with her mouth, very obviously sucking them as she pulled away.
Daryl felt his cheeks burn when everyone laughed about it and cheered, and he figured that maybe that's what they were supposed to do, but it was a little embarrassing to think that everyone had seen Carol suck his fingers. He didn't have long to dwell on it, though, because Carol pulled him to her and kissed him hard, right in front of everyone, the taste of cake going between them.
And after the cake there was to be dancing. Andrea had a CD player that she sat up for them to dance in the dining room, where there was a little more room, and she declared that everyone better like her music because she'd put more effort into it than she had ever put into any mix tape in her life.
When she started the music, the first song was a slow song and they told Daryl that he and Carol had to dance first.
"I don't dance," he protested.
Carol looped her hand in his, though and pulled him to the clearest space in the living room, so that everyone could see them. She looped her arms around him and looked up at him.
"Just relax, Daryl," Carol said. "It's OK. You'll do fine. Just rock back and forth."
Daryl wanted to protest, but when she leaned her head against him, her arms going around him, he dropped his around her and hugged him, letting her rock him more than anything. He didn't know the song that was playing…the radio in his truck had been broken for as long as he could remember and he didn't often listen to music otherwise…but it was a song about love and, as far as he could tell, somebody singing about the fact that they'd found love when they didn't think that they ever would. He figured it was as suiting as anything was bound to be.
And after a few minutes people stopped watching him and Carol because everyone started dancing…alone or accompanied, and Daryl didn't feel so self-conscious anymore. He started to like the swaying and he liked looking around at others from time to time while Carol leaned against him, rocking.
When Daryl lost Carol, at some point, to Andrea who wanted to dance with her, he welcomed the break and excused himself into the kitchen to get some of the lemonade that was extra tart in contrast to the buttercream icing that seemed like an eternal coating on his tongue.
He found Merle there, leaning silently against the kitchen counter, sipping on some of the lemonade. Daryl walked over and leaned next to him, glancing around at everyone talking and dancing.
Michonne came over, demanding that Merle and Daryl pose for a picture, which they did with Merle jokingly kissing Daryl's cheek, and then she disappeared to go and take pictures of Carol who was now dancing with Hershel.
"So…ya feel different? This what'cha wanted?" Merle asked after a moment.
"Don't reckon much is different," Daryl said, finally stripping himself of the tie and laying it on the counter behind him. "But this sure is what I wanted."
"That lil' woman's gotta be plumb outta her mind ta decide ta be a Dixon," Merle said with a chuckle.
Daryl grinned to himself. He felt like he was on some kind of high just at the thought of it. It was only slowly sinking into him that he was married to Carol. She was actually his wife. They'd actually gone and they'd said "I do" and now there wasn't any more wondering what would happen because it was forever now.
"She might be outta her mind," Daryl said, "but I'm sure glad she is."
Merle sucked his teeth and chuckled. Daryl looked at him. He didn't know if it was what he'd said to Merle or the fact that he just got married today, or what it was, but there was very little of Merle's typical asshole "self" present. He almost didn't even look like Merle. If he wasn't acting like a sane human being, Daryl would have thought he was strung out on something to be so very different at the moment.
Daryl decided, though, not to draw attention to it and ruin it. It was his wedding day, and the last thing he needed was his brother acting like a jackass.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Carol was giddy. This reception far beat her last reception. Every single person here knew her...nearly everyone had danced with her…and truth be told the cake was far better than the professional one she'd had at her wedding with Ed.
She excused herself after dancing with Tyreese and went into the kitchen, cutting herself a hunk of cake and putting it on the dainty little cardboard plates that someone had brought. She picked up the plate and crossed the kitchen where Daryl was leaning against the counter and showing Merle the ultrasound picture from their last appointment.
"Daryl…Merle doesn't want to see that," Carol said, covering her mouth so that the big bit of the cake she'd already crammed in there wouldn't come spewing out. "And I don't think you're supposed to pass around your baby pictures at your reception."
Merle laughed at her.
"Now wouldn't be a true Dixon weddin' if'n the baby weren't invited," Merle said.
"He asked to see it," Daryl said.
Carol couldn't believe that Merle would want to see it. Everyone else in the room had already seen it. She'd let Daryl take it to Hershel and Miss Jo as a form of show and tell even. He didn't care much about the picture where they were supposedly able to tell the baby was a girl…and she kind of understood his feelings since she couldn't tell anything about the picture either…but the other one he was fond of because you could actually make out the profile of the baby, or if you couldn't, both of them thought you could.
"See…looks like she's suckin' on her thumb already," Daryl said.
Merle held the picture up and looked at it, a half smile curling on his lips.
Carol knew from what she'd read that most baby's at their daughter's size would suck their fingers and hands in the womb, but Daryl was so tickled to think that she'd gotten it from him and his habit of nervously gnawing at his thumb nail and cuticle, that she hadn't had the heart to tell him that it was just natural and she didn't think it hurt anything to let him think that it was something special that his daughter did.
Carol stood to the side and watched as Daryl took the picture back from Merle and took it back to the fridge, tacking it up with one of the magnets.
"Shoulda known my lil' brothah didn't have a pair big enough ta make a boy," Merle teased as Daryl joined them again.
"He was just afraid that if it was a boy it was going to turn out like you," Carol said. "So he decided to go with a girl. Takes more ability to choose your gender."
Merle looked at her, narrowing his eyes for a moment and smirking. He chuckled and shook his head after a minute.
"Damn Mouse, already spoken like a damn Dixon," Merle said.
Carol snickered at him and finished off the cake that she was eating by stuffing the last of the piece into her mouth. She balled the napkin up and held it in her hand until she was ready to move to the trashcan and throw it away.
"Leave any cake for anyone else?" Daryl asked, watching her chew with her hand over her mouth in an effort to hide the fact that the bite of cake she'd taken hadn't exactly been as bite sized as she'd thought it was.
She swatted at him instead of answering and he chuckled, reaching out and grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. She didn't fight him. She simply leaned against him, her head on his chest.
Honestly, she was tired. It had been a lot of excitement and a lot of stress, and a lot of everything else, and she was just plain tired. She hated to admit it, though, because this was Daryl's first…and better be his last…honeymoon, and she was sure he was going to have plans with it.
The truth was that she had a lot of interest in that as well, but she was wondering if she could maybe talk her husband into a nap first…or maybe a nap interval.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Michonne tried to hide the fact that she was yawning at intervals. She'd been up most of the night trying to put finishing touches here and there on what needed to be done to make sure the day went off without a hitch. She'd also had to help Andrea figure out, since both of them were pretty damn technologically challenged, how to make the CD on her laptop that they'd burned for the reception.
And it was getting late…at least by reception standards. Michonne didn't know exactly how long they were all supposed to stay. This wasn't a traditional wedding, and it wasn't a traditional reception, so it was kind of difficult to figure out what rules applied and what didn't.
Michonne glanced around, checking for the locations of her little ones. Celine was easy enough to find. She was curled up against Tyreese's chest, next to Michonne, humming a little song and obviously fighting sleep while she picked at the buttons on his suit. Anjelica, on the other hand, had been playing with Lincoln most of the day and the two had free range of the house.
Now, though, Michonne could see that the girl was occupied by sitting on the couch, in Hershel's lap, being entertained by a pocket watch on a chain that the old man was letting her gape at while Miss Jo looked on. She smiled in their direction and raised her camera, snapping a picture of the scene without letting them know that they'd been spotted.
Andrea was sitting on the dining room table, watching Daryl and Carol as they swayed around together, talking about something softly. Michonne snapped a few pictures of it to go with the already dozens that she'd taken of the happy couple dancing together.
She knew that Daryl and Carol had their problems, and they certainly hadn't seen the last of them…not unless they both tragically died within the hour…but she really couldn't be happier for them if she tried. Watching them right now…just the way they were looking at her…made her sure that if anyone could make it, they'd one day be just like Hershel and Miss Jo…just like they wanted to be.
Michonne sighed and yawned again, lifting her camera to snap a picture of Merle. He had really surprised her today. She wouldn't have believed the man before her was Merle Dixon if she didn't know it was, and she was still somewhat unsure if he hadn't been kidnapped by aliens or something and what they had wasn't actually Merle but, rather, some kind of clone of Merle.
Pod people, aliens, or what have you, though, Michonne would rather have the copy they got than the one that they had before.
Merle had spent most of the day just sort of blending with the rest of the group. He'd talked business a little with Tyreese and she'd caught him…and she had the picture to prove it because she knew no one would believe what she'd seen…leaning down on one knee at some point to offer Anjelica a bite of the cake that he was eating.
Now, he was lingering, one hand in his pocket and a cup of lemonade in the other, around the living room, shuffling in a relaxed circle around the dining room table. He alternated, if watched closely enough, between watching Carol and Daryl dance and watching Andrea dreamily watching them.
Michonne nudged Tyreese.
"And here we have the mating dance of the exotic super asshole," Michonne whispered. "Notice how he has spotted his mate, and has begun his signature shuffling walk in hopes of attracting her attention."
Tyreese chuckled.
"I hope to God you're talking about Merle and not Daryl," Tyreese whispered back, leaning in closer to her and kissing the side of her face gently after he spoke.
Michonne chuckled.
"Daryl is not a super asshole," Michonne said. "He's a regular sized asshole."
"Merle's been strange today," Tyreese said. "I don't know what it is, but he hasn't been so…"
"So much like Merle?" Michonne asked, turning to look at him a second before turning her attention back to watching Merle obviously trying to work his way up to speaking to Andrea.
"Something like that," Tyreese said with a chuckle.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"Congratulations, Daryl," Hershel said, following Daryl out the door. Daryl had intentions to smoke, but Hershel was just coming out to keep him company while Miss Jo was inside saying goodbye to the other women that were still in there.
"Thank ya," Daryl said. He chuckled after a minute and lit his cigarette, noticing Hershel looking at him like he expected explanation. "Was just thinkin' that I ain't sure we'da made it here if it weren't for ya runnin' 'round after me a good bit a' the time."
Hershel chuckled.
"I've hardly run around after you, Daryl," Hershel said. "You've done this all yourself…you and Carol. If anyone has helped you along the way…well they were just helping hands. You two had to be the ones to do the work, though."
Daryl nodded his head.
"Still, I reckon what I'm tryin' ta say is…well…I appreciate all the times ya let me yack at'cha when I just didn't know what ta do about sh-stuff," Daryl said.
It was strange for him to say these things. He thought them, but thinking them and saying them were two different things. It was different when he talked about what he thought or what he felt with Carol. She was a woman…and now she was his wife…but Merle would have said that any man who would talk to another man like that wasn't acting like he was supposed to.
Hershel didn't seem to care, though, or even notice. He stood beside Daryl, his hands stuffed down in his pockets.
"Well…Daryl…just because you're a married man doesn't mean you can't still ask me when you're wondering what you should do about things," Hershel said. He chuckled. "We all need a little help sometime."
Daryl nodded at him.
Hershel glanced back toward the house.
"I suppose Jo is taking her time," Hershel said.
Daryl nipped at the skin on his thumb and nodded.
"That's one thing you'll learn, son…if you haven't already. Women run on their own clocks."
Daryl chuckled.
"Kinda figurin' that one out," Daryl said. "Ya want me ta stick my head in the door an' see if she's comin'?" Daryl asked.
Hershel shook his head.
"No…this kind of thing is something that women love," Hershel said. "It won't do me any harm to wait until Jo's good and ready to go." The old man patted his shoe on the ground and Daryl noticed him kicking what appeared to be a screw, though Daryl wasn't positive where it had come from, back and forth between his shoes. "Rushing Jo out of there, though…that might not be so harmless."
Daryl chuckled. He felt, for the moment, like he'd maybe just entered into some kind of secret club. Like now the advice that Hershel had to share with him took on a different kind of meaning. Now he wasn't just some guy figuring out how to get Carol to like him…now he was going to be navigating what it meant to keep the peace with his wife.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"Do you want me to take all this?" Michonne asked, unplugging the CD player from the wall and wrapping the cord around the handle.
Andrea was cleaning up in the kitchen and simply nodded at her. They'd had to do just about everything short of tying Carol down to convince her that she wasn't cleaning up after her own reception, so Tyreese was entertaining her and Daryl both in the living room with the girls.
"Yeah," Andrea said. "I'm almost done here. I'm going to take the garbage out for pick up in the morning and get my clothes together and I'll be over at your house. You can go ahead and head out."
Michonne nodded and went on into the living room to say goodbye to Daryl, Carol, and Merle while Andrea heaved up the trash bag and started out the door with it.
She was halfway down the driveway when she heard footsteps padding behind her and turned around to catch Merle walking close behind.
"What do you want, Merle?" Andrea asked.
She was trying with everything she had to pretend that she hadn't been watching him all day. He looked good. He looked better than she'd ever seen him look before and once or twice he'd hovered near enough to her that she could tell that he smelled good too. He'd apparently gone all out for Daryl's wedding with new clothes and new cologne…of course he'd never admit it.
She was also trying to pretend that she hadn't been impressed by how he acted. He'd been polite…or at least as polite as anyone could ever expect from Merle…to everyone all day and he hadn't caused a scene once.
"That's a damn nice way ta greet a ole friend," Merle said. "Actin' all snooty all day like ya couldn't even see me."
"Oh, I didn't miss you," Andrea said.
She made it to the road and heaved open the lid on the plastic green trash can that was waiting for pick up. She started to lift the bag over the side when she felt Merle hoist it out of her hand and toss it over, slamming the lid shut quickly. She turned around to him, crossing her arms over her chest and he smirked at her, giving her an obvious look over.
"What?" She asked.
Merle chuckled.
"Damn, bitch! Can't even say thank ya!" Merle said.
Andrea raised her eyebrows.
"Thank you, Merle," she said. "Now what is it?"
"Ya look right good," Merle said. "Clean up all right."
Andrea made a face, wondering how long they were going to stand here before he either got to some kind of point or she quit waiting and headed back to the house.
The din of voices from the carport drew her attention and she glanced toward the house, noticing Tyreese, Michonne, and the girls carrying their goodbyes over and starting out to leave.
"That's my cue," Andrea said. "Time for me to get my shit together and get out of the newlywed's hair."
She turned and started up the driveway.
"Ya reckon ya might wanta get a little somethin' ta eat…cake ain't done shit for me," Merle said.
Andrea stopped and turned back to Merle. He didn't often offer for her to "eat" anything that wasn't immediately followed by some junk about what he had for her to eat.
"Are you asking me to dinner?" Andrea asked.
Merle hummed a little, sucking his teeth.
"Weelll," he drawled, buying himself time. "I'm just sayin' ya all fancied up…an' I took the damn time ta get clean. Seems a shame ta waste it when the damn sun ain't even set yet."
Andrea glanced at the sky as though she hadn't noticed that it wasn't dark out. She knew that she'd be taking a chance going out with Merle. There was the chance that he was going to be a total dick once he got out of whatever it was in the atmosphere that had him parading around and pretending to be a human being. There was also a chance, though, that he would stay in character…and then she'd have to put some energy into keeping control of herself.
She had no intention of simply rolling over for Merle Dixon…even if he had borrowed a human costume from somewhere for the night.
But dinner might not be too bad…and she was kind of hungry…and her other alternative was The Little Mermaid with Michonne, Tyreese, and the babies.
Andrea nodded her head, careful not to smile very broadly.
"OK," she said. "Let me get my things. You can drop me by Michonne's after dinner."
Merle offered her a little smile.
"I'll walk up an' say bye ta my brothah," Merle said. "Make sure he knows what the hell he's s'posed ta be doin' when he's layin' it ta the Mouse tonight."
Merle smirked and walked up the driveway, passing Andrea as he went. She chuckled and shook her head a little as she followed behind him.
Some things never changed…at least not entirely.