AN: I hope everyone's weekend is going well! I thought I'd drop in and give you another little chapter.

This one comes with a warning…I guess. It's sexual…pretty much the entire chapter is about sex. Though I don't really know if I'd call it smutty. I have a hard time explaining these things. If you're not into sexual discussions, though, then you might want to just bypass this one.

That being said, it does serve a purpose…it's a little something of character development, just character development done through sexual conversation. But again, you've been warned, so if you're not into it…you'll be fine…just move along like there's nothing to see here.

For those of you who do read, though, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!

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"No!" Carol protested, although not with much sincerity. "I told you…I don't feel like it."

"Mmm…but'cha could feel like it," Daryl said. "If ya'd stop bein' hardheaded an' roll over here…lemme take care of ya."

Daryl had probably been trying for about fifteen minutes to convince Carol that she wanted to sleep with him, and he wasn't exactly loosing, at least not the way that he saw it. She was protesting and she stayed pushed to her side of the bed, pushing his hand off whenever he teased her by putting his hand on her waist as though he were going to pull her across the bed. Daryl could tell she wasn't serious, though…at least not really. She was playing at this point more than anything because little bits of laughter escaped her now and again when he snuck a finger over and poked at her side.

Daryl figured that it this point she just wanted to tease him…or maybe she wanted attention or something. He just had to figure out exactly what it was that she wanted, give it to her, and then she'd roll right on over happily. Turning down sex wasn't something she could be accused of lately.

Ed had been out of prison now for about five days. Daryl had a mental calendar running, but no one had seen him and no one had heard anything about him. They were starting to wonder if Michonne had been right, though purely by accident, and the man had decided to just get the hell out Dodge and cut his losses instead of risking another trip to the state prison.

Daryl wasn't complaining, though, of Ed's absence. He hoped the fat bastard was as far gone as California by now and he never showed his face around there again.

Tonight, though, there had been no mention of Ed…and Daryl knew that wasn't what was on Carol's mind. If it was, she'd been amazing at hiding it, and Carol wasn't known by him for her ability to keep her emotions too deeply buried.

She hadn't been in a really bad mood or anything at all tonight. Maybe she'd been a little glum or gloomy…perhaps a little pouty…but Daryl was slowly learning to distinguish between what were moods that were actually caused by some outside influence, and what were the strange moods that just seemed to wash over her inexplicably like tides.

For instance the fact that she cried…without fail…every single time a certain toilet paper commercial came on the television. Daryl knew now that it was something to do with the toilet paper commercial…and it was something he would absolutely never understand…but it didn't mean that she was really upset or that she was in a bad mood. Something about that damn commercial just sent her brain the subliminal message that it should make her cry.

That's essentially what he'd contributed her mood tonight to being. It was just something that was happening to her, and given the opportunity she probably couldn't fully explain it…but he was going to give her the chance to try in hopes that it might let him know what she needed so he could have a better chance of getting to what he wanted to get to.

"I'm not rolling over," Carol said.

"Ya gon' tell me why not?" Daryl asked, reaching out and drawing on her back, which was facing him, with his fingertip.

"Because I'm gross," Carol said.

Daryl chuckled at her.

"Ya ain't gross," Daryl said. "Hell ya just took a bath. Smell like…" he sniffed the air and was unable to identify the smell exactly, though it was a pleasant one. She must have switched out the bath soap again because it had been strawberries last night. "Smell like soap…ya smell clean. Now roll ya ass over here."

Daryl heard Carol chuckle at him a little and she reached up, tugging her pillow down a little more.

"I look gross," Carol said. "I'm fat and I feel gross…I don't want you looking at me naked."

Daryl laughed in response. They'd had some variation of this conversation a few times before. Carol was uncomfortable with her body and she didn't say anything to anyone else, but she surely saved it up for him.

"I can turn the bathroom light off," Daryl offered. "Then I ain't hardly even gon' see the bed."

Carol rolled slightly and looked over his shoulder, faking annoyance at him. He knew now exactly what this was about and what was expected of him. She wanted him to make her, by whatever powers were invested in him by the state of Georgia as her husband, to make her feel pretty.

"Come on," Daryl said. "Ya ain't gross. I seen ya gettin' ready for bed…not half an hour ago…I know ya ain't gross…hell that's what got me stirred up tryin' ta convince ya ta roll on over here an' lemme make ya feel better."

Carol rolled a little and Daryl silently congratulated himself. He had not won this war yet…no…not at all. This would be a little longer battle, but he had at least fired some shots in favor of his side.

"I'm fat," Carol said.

"Ya ain't fat," Daryl responded. "Ya carryin' Lil' Bit around an' if ya think that makes ya fat then ya can blame it on her for weighin' too damn much."

Carol laughed.

"Are you calling our daughter fat?" Carol asked.

"Nope," Daryl said. "Sounds ta me like it's you who's sayin' she's fat. I don't think neither one of ya's fat…I'm just assessin' the situation."

"My boobs are bigger too," Carol said. "My bra doesn't even fit right."

"Don't I know it," Daryl said, grinning.

Carol sighed and rolled over, facing him and yanking her pillow back in the other direction so she could cram most of it under her face. Daryl couldn't help but smile at the obvious pout on her lips. She was playing with him, that much was evident, but she really was going through some stuff about her body and that was pretty evident too. Daryl smiled at her and reached out, rubbing his finger over her bottom lip which was protruding more than it normally did.

"Hey…" he said. "Ya ain't gross an' ya ain't fat, OK? Ya just as damn pretty as ya ever was…an' ya a lil' bit different, but that ain't no bad thing. Weren't you the same damn woman that told my ass ya was gon' change 'cause a' this baby an' I better not get worked up about it?"

Carol didn't say anything, she just continued to stare at him and the pout deepened, making Daryl quite sure they were going to get tears to work with soon if he didn't get a handle on things before the evil troll that lived in her brain and made her cry at all things not tear worthy got full control again.

"An' here I am…don't bother me one bit," Daryl continued. "I like ya tummy an' I love ya boobies bein' bigger…an' here you is all poutin' 'bout it. Am I gonna have ta give ya one a' them big ole speeches?"

Carol sat up then, leaning on her elbow, the pout not entirely gone but lessening a little. She at least no longer looked on the verge of tears, and these days that was a victory worth celebrating in Daryl's opinion.

Daryl scooted over a little in the bed so that he was closer to her, lying down and looking up at her. He reached up and raked his fingertips just through the hair at her temples, tugging it a little and eliciting a bit of a smile from her.

"You're an asshole," Carol said, the smiled broadening.

Daryl chuckled.

"What the hell am I an' asshole for?" Daryl asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"For being so cute," Carol said. "You won't even let me be in a grumpy mood."

Daryl raised his eyebrows at her.

"Can't help my natural abilities," Daryl said. "If ya wanna be in a grumpy mood, though, then ya welcome to it, just come on over here an' give me some sugar while ya do it…best learn ta multitask."

Carol leaned over him and kissed him, biting at his lip as she pulled away from him. Daryl smiled and finally dared now to reach up and cup her breast for a moment before moving his hand and rubbing her nipple between his finger and thumb. Just the way she flitted her eyelids at him told him that she was over the fighting against it for now and would actually be willing to do what he wanted.

Daryl leaned up, kissing her again, and bringing his hand down between her legs. She'd bothered, for whatever reason, to put on panties before she got in bed, and he rubbed her through the cotton before slipping his hand in the waistband and stroking her teasingly. She leaned up on her knees, giving him access and moaning a little as he slipped a fingertip a little deeper before continuing his rubbing.

Daryl didn't need as much teasing as her. Just the promise and his little friend was awake and at full salute, checking in to make sure he wasn't fucking up plans for the evening. Carol, still up on her hands and knees and hovering over him enough for him to be able to reach her, reached one hand out and stroked him gently, soliciting a growl in his throat that he couldn't have controlled if he'd wanted to.

"Take them damn panties off," Daryl panted, hating to interrupt her action but having other things in mind that were more interesting to him.

Carol smiled at him and raised up, maneuvering her way out of the cotton underwear. She tossed them somewhere toward the head of the bed on the side that she'd been laying on…the side that was technically "his" though they rarely stayed on designated sides, and then she dipped down and drug her tongue slowly up the length of him.

Daryl hissed. He'd never let her do this before. He just didn't really like the idea of her being down there…sucking on his dick. No matter how good it felt, he'd heard Merle talk about it too damn much when he was drinking and shooting the shit with random assholes in dirty ass bars. And when they talked about it, Daryl always thought it was pretty damn degrading. He equated it, in his mind, with something that they expected women they thought weren't good enough to be treated as more than whores to do, and Daryl didn't want to put Carol in that position so he'd made up a million excuses as to why he didn't like it.

Carol moved around on the bed, licking him again, and Daryl was raised up, looking at her as she stared back, intently, at him. She was waiting on him to stop her. But he knew this drill. If he stopped her, she would cry.

He didn't know why, but for some reason it was important to her that he let her do this. Each time he'd protested she'd gotten upset about it and then it had been a dead topic until she'd decided to do it again. Still, his aversion to the idea was almost enough to take away the pleasure…and if it didn't take away all of it, it certainly lessened it.

"Ya know I don't like ya doin' that," Daryl said.

Carol stopped, the pout returning to her face.

"I want to…" she said.

Daryl propped himself on his elbow and sighed at her.

"Why? Why's it so damn important to ya?" He asked.

Carol frowned.

"Because…" she started. "I don't know…I've never done it before…not because I wanted to do it…"

Now it was Daryl's turn to frown.

"Ya ain't no whore," Daryl said, finally admitting to some degree why he held an aversion to the act and particularly to the idea of Carol performing it. "I don't want'cha ta do nothin' that's gonna make ya feel like one."

Carol sat back now on the bed and Daryl realized that if they were going to get around to sex…which they likely would…they were going to be postponing it until after they'd finished this little piece of business.

There were a lot of times these things happened, though, and Daryl was almost used to the fact that they were going to regularly start something up only to put it on hold indefinitely until they'd covered some topic or another of one of their lives…or in this case something that touched both of them.

Carol frowned and shook her head.

"Ed used to say I was a whore…" Carol said. "But I'm not…and I've never been one."

Daryl grunted.

"Fucker used ta say a lotta shit," Daryl said. "But'cha ain't no whore…and I don't want'cha ta ever think that I think ya one."

"I don't think that, Daryl," Carol said. "I don't think I could."

"Merle an' all the fuckers he ever run his mouth with…" Daryl said. "They always talked about this shit with the women they was hookin' up with for a night or so. Talked about 'em suckin' their dicks an' shit. I always thought it sounded like the damn cheapest shit ever."

"So maybe it's not the act that's to blame," Carol said. "Maybe it's how they looked at it. You can make anything sound cheap if you want to…just like you can make even the best things into a form of torture if that's what you're after."

Daryl sighed.

"I'd rather just be with ya," Daryl said. "Somethin' we both get somethin' out of…"

Carol crawled forward then, sitting closer to him. She leaned down, kissing him, before she pushed herself back up.

"When you go down on me," Carol said, "do you get anything out of it?"

Daryl felt his cheeks burn.

"Yeah," he said.

"What?" Carol asked.

Daryl chuckled a little, more with his own embarrassment at talking about the issue than with any real humor he found in the situation.

"Hell…a lot," he said. "I like it. Like the way ya taste…like how ya smell…like the way ya act when I'm doin' it an' knowin' that'cha squirmin' 'round an' purrin' like that 'cause a some shit that I'm doin'."

"So it's not a bad thing?" Carol asked.

Daryl shook his head at her and nervously nibbled at his thumb.

"It's more like a…like a power trip or something..." Carol said, reaching over and trailing her finger in a circle around his nipple.

Daryl scrunched his face up at her words.

"I don't like the sound a' that," he said. "Ain't no power trip. It's more than that."

Carol nodded her head a little and tipped it to the side.

"OK," she said. "I know it's more than that…when you're with me and all that jazz…but it puts you in control, right? You feel like you're in control of me…or of what I get out of it, right?"

Daryl moaned a little.

"I reckon," he said.

"So…that's what I want," Carol said. "I want to be the one in control of what you get out of it…and I want to be the one to decide that it's something that I want to do to you…something I want to do for you."

Daryl bit his lip, considering what she was saying. He understood it. He really did, at least now. She wanted to do this because it was something that she felt like was going to give her something…it was going to put her in a place that she hadn't been in before. It was a place, not of some slut somebody picked up in a bar somewhere, but in a place where she was doing what the fuck she wanted…with him.

"Besides," Carol said, obviously sensing his hesitation, "we're married aren't we? Doesn't that mean we get to make the rules?"

She shrugged and continued to tease his nipples, sending a shiver through him.

"Alright," Daryl said, finally giving in. He almost laughed at her facial expression as she cut her eyes at him. It was a little more suited to giving her a Christmas gift and less suited to giving her permission to give him a blow job.

"You're not going to be mad?" Carol asked, not moving yet from her position.

Daryl shook his head.

"Ain't gonna be mad. Ya wanna do it, then that's what the hell we gon' do…but as soon as I get a breather we gon' tangle the hell up an' do this shit right," Daryl said.

Carol smiled at him.

"However you want," she said.

She was too damn excited about this shit and Daryl almost thought it was funny. He could tell she was going to get a hell of a lot more from this than he thought she was going to get in the beginning just because she'd worked it up in her head that it was going to do some serious shit for her…or at least for her mind.

Daryl flopped back on the pillow feeling a little uncomfortable until she wrapped her hand around him, stroking him. He closed his eyes and tried to put the negative thoughts that he had out of his mind. He wanted to enjoy this. In fact, he thought it was actually important that he enjoy it.

"I don't know if I'm any good at this…" Carol admitted after a second, though she hadn't actually started yet.

Daryl chuckled and leaned up, glancing at her a moment.

"Just don't bite my fuckin' dick off an' I reckon ya gonna be the best I ever had," Daryl admitted.

Carol smiled at him and he dropped back on the pillow with a sigh.

Daryl closed his eyes and let himself sink into things. He had nothing to go on, but he didn't think that Carol was terrible at it…not like she'd thought she'd be. He actually thoroughly enjoyed it, even when the mood had been broken for a minute because she'd had to stop to get control over the fact that she'd gagged herself pretty thoroughly.

When Daryl came he barely had a second to get control of himself before he couldn't help but snicker at her. She swallowed, but only after gaging again, and red in the face she wiped her mouth and crawled toward him.

Daryl rolled his head in her direction, smiling at her and trying to get his breathing in check. He held his arm in her direction and she lied down, settling her head against him. He rolled his head enough to kiss her forehead slightly, still panting.

"D'ja like it good as ya thought'cha would?" Daryl asked after a second.

"Did I do alright?" Carol asked.

"Mmmm…" Daryl said. "Damn near perfect."

Carol rooted into him a little and he smiled, letting his lips brush the part of her forehead they could reach again.

"In a minute…we goin' 'bout this again, ya know," Daryl said.

"I know," Carol said, lazily toying with his nipples again.

"Ya get ta be on top," Daryl said.

Carol groaned.

"I'll squish you," she said.

Daryl chuckled and moved the arm that was under her enough to playfully pinch her. She protested it much louder than was necessary.

"I said ya on top, woman," Daryl said. "Don't give me no damn lip. I get a better view of ya big ole titties that way."

Carol moved a little and kissed his chest.

"Fine," she said. "But only because I want you to have your way."

Daryl chuckled.

"You're in charge, woman…I'm just along for the ride," Daryl said.

Carol laughed at him and maneuvered herself so that she could bring their lips together. Daryl thought it was strange to taste himself on her tongue, but he didn't mind it. She held the kiss, breaking it long enough for both of them to get the deep breath that it was denying them, and brought her lips back, finally pulling away and nipping his bottom lip when she was done.

"And don't you forget it, either," she said, coming back and nipping him again.