AN: Wow! I didn't really expect that mentioning my plans to keep going on with this would be so exciting to so many people! LOL Y'all are awesome! I like what Dixonrocks said, too, about it being like a sitcom. I guess I almost see it like a t.v. show in my head or something because I'm always like "what's in this episode?"
So this episode is a little fluffy too and part of it…and the upcoming chapter(s) is/are inspired by a late night conversation that I had with SOA loving mom, so if you like it…then you've got her to thank for the inspiration!
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
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"Ain't it a lil' early for all this mess?" Daryl asked as he was heaving boxes around the attic, passing them down to Hershel who was waiting below and every now and again climbing up to stick his head through the hole in the floor and direct Daryl to what he wanted next.
Hershel, who was currently looking through the hole in the floor so that only his head was visible, chuckled at Daryl.
"Good heavens, Daryl, don't you let Jo hear you say such nonsense! We're late!" Hershel said.
"Ain't even Christmas yet," Daryl said.
He'd spent the whole morning unloading tons of boxes marked "Christmas" and he had a ton more to go. He didn't even know where Miss Jo was planning on putting all this stuff.
Hershel chuckled again.
"You have to decorate early so you can enjoy it longer," Hershel said.
Daryl sat down on the floor, taking a break, and in response Hershel stepped up a few steps and rested his arms on the floor surrounding the hole.
"To tell you the truth," Hershel said, "I like when Jo puts out all the decorations. She pays so much attention to it. It's like…I don't know…it's her own special art. She's waited a long time this year."
Hershel broke off and Daryl watched him. The old man chuckled to himself and sighed.
"Do you know the first year we were married…Jo was so excited about getting to decorate for Christmas in our house that she decorated before October had even gotten started good. We went through three Christmas trees that year that because the sad little things dried up and her uncle thought they'd be a fire hazard so he kept coming buy and bringing her a fresh one," Hershel said. "The next year I told her that she couldn't decorate for Christmas until Halloween had passed. November first the decorations came out of the attic."
Daryl snickered. He could just imagine, as he had them painted in his mind as young people, Hershel and Miss Jo decorating for Christmas while other people still had pumpkins on their porches.
"Carol cried when our damn pumpkins turned ta nastiness," Daryl said. "Don't even know what she'd do if'n we was gonna get a Christmas tree."
Hershel frowned at him.
"You're not buying a Christmas tree?" Hershel asked.
Daryl shook his head.
"Nah…I ain't never done much for Christmas…don't mean too much ta me…so we just ain't doin' nothin' really," Daryl said. "Gonna go ta the parade or somethin' she wants ta go to an' we gonna go look at lights…we lettin' everyone else decorate for us."
Hershel frowned at him.
"What are you getting her for Christmas?" Hershel asked.
Daryl shrugged.
The truth was they'd talked about it and they'd crunched numbers but there were things they needed. Lil' Bit was going to have to have a carseat…and she needed other things too. Daryl had never realized how expensive getting ready for a baby would be. The kid was free…but nothing else was.
They were tucking money away for doctor bills and hospital bills because even though Michonne's law office offered insurance, it wasn't going to pay for everything. They had a house payment…and on top of that they were going to have to find a car. They couldn't legally put the baby in either of their trucks and Andrea had offered her car to them, but Daryl knew that old car didn't have much left in it anyway.
"We ain't doin' gifts this year," Daryl admitted. "We lookin' for a car so we decided we gon' call that our gift ta each other."
Hershel nodded his understanding a little.
"I remember what it was like starting out," Hershel said. "We made gifts for each other our first year together because we didn't have the money to buy them."
Daryl smiled. He hadn't thought of that.
"What'd ya make?" He asked. He wasn't sure he was much good at making anything. He could fix things pretty well if he was given enough time and tools to do so, but he hadn't ever been accused of being crafty.
Hershel smiled again.
"Jo made me a scarf…" Hershel chuckled. "She made me a hat that didn't fit…and some gloves that would have worked out well if I hadn't had thumbs."
Daryl laughed.
"I spent my evenings with an uncle of mine who had a nice little shop…he helped me make her a hope chest," Hershel said. "Now I know it wasn't very nice, but Jo still has it. She used it like it was the nicest piece of furniture we had. It's still in one of the bedrooms."
Daryl nodded a little.
"Well, I ain't no good at makin' things, an' 'sides that don't neither of us take that much time ta do stuff like that. Feels like we almost always got somethin' goin' on an' when we get a minute…well…hell…we just wanna spend some time together," Daryl admitted.
Hershel smiled and nodded again.
"That's the important thing," Hershel said. "At the end of it all, it's the time that you spend together that means the most…and it's the thing that you'll always wish you had more of."
Daryl gnawed at his cuticle.
"We takin' a class together now. Done been ta the first week. It's a baby class an' I got me a whole buncha lil' books I been readin' ta get ready for the other classes. Reckon it's somethin' we can do together," Daryl said.
Hershel chuckled.
"A baby class?" Hershel asked, raising his eyebrows and coming further up the ladder so he could sit on the attic floor with his feet hanging out the hole.
"All kinds a' stuff, really," Daryl admitted. "But we get ta…ya know…learn what we gotta do an' stuff. I ain't never been 'round no babies before an' I figure every lil' bit's gonna help."
Hershel nodded.
"I think you're going to do just fine, Daryl," Hershel said. "Though the class certainly can't hurt…at least in how well prepared you feel."
Daryl got up then with a sigh and started going through some more of the boxes to sort out what Miss Jo wanted from what she didn't. He figured he could at least slide them toward the hole while they were resting so they were easier to get down when it was time to get back to working hard.
"Daryl," Hershel started. "Do you think that you and Carol Ann might be interested in doing a favor for Miss Jo and me?"
Daryl glanced back over his shoulder, stopping in the middle of working a particularly tattered cardboard box across the dirty floor.
"What'cha need?" Daryl asked.
"You ever been to North Carolina, Daryl?" Hershel asked.
Daryl shook his head. He'd hardly ever been out of Georgia to his recollection, although he was pretty sure he'd been every damn place in Georgia that existed.
"Miss Jo and I...well, we have a mountain house," Hershel said. "A little cabin, it's not much really, in the mountains of North Carolina. We used to try to go up there a couple of times a year, but it's a long drive for us and when you get older that much time sitting on your rear end can make you pretty hard to get along with once you're there."
Daryl turned around now, stretching his back and waiting for Hershel to get where he was going. By now he'd learned enough about Hershel to know that the man always got to his point, but he was going to get there his own way and in his own time and it was better to just sit back and let it happen.
"The kids don't seem to care much for the place," Hershel said. "I don't think any of them have been up there since they were children and we took them on vacation. Most of the time it just sits empty. This time of year, though, it's important to go up and make sure that none of the pipes freeze…just check over things…we try to stay there a couple of days so the place doesn't fall apart or, as Jo says, feel abandoned."
Daryl waited.
"Do you think that you and Carol Ann could maybe take the weekend and go up there and check on things for us this year? I'd give you a Friday and a Monday, paid of course. You'd need to check the pipes, make sure nothing needs attention," Hershel said.
Daryl shrugged.
"Sure…I mean we could do that," Daryl said. "Ain't no big deal."
Hershel smiled.
"It's really pretty this time of year," Hershel said. "Usually there's some snow…and the cabin's simple but it's a nice little place to get away from life for a few days. You two could…take a honeymoon if you will…a little time to yourselves before the baby gets here…and you'd be doing us a favor by saving us the drive."
Daryl nodded and smiled at the thought of taking Carol on a honeymoon. They kind of figured that they weren't going to have a honeymoon…not like a real one anyway.
"Yeah," Daryl said. "We could do that. When ya want us ta go?"
"I was thinking maybe this weekend?" Hershel asked. "Get up there before everything starts to get crowded with the Christmas holidays. I'd want you to take my truck, though."
Daryl shook his head.
"Ain't gon' put'cha out," Daryl said. "We can take my truck or Carol's."
Now it was Hershel's turn to shake his head.
"No…" Hershel said. "You won't put me out. I've got the farm truck if I need to go anywhere and my truck…well, it's a little nicer for a trip like that. It's got heat and the tires are good. If you're going to be driving, possibly, through the snow and ice on those back mountain roads, then I'd just prefer it if you were doing it in my truck. You've got some precious cargo…we don't need anyone running off the roads."
Daryl thought about it. He certainly didn't want to run off the road and get them into a wreck…and the tires on both their trucks weren't terrible, but they couldn't remember when they were actually new. Neither of the vehicles had heat worth writing home about…and it would be a pretty shitty situation for one of them to break down somewhere where they didn't know a soul.
"Thank ya," was all Daryl could say. He wanted to say a lot more, but he couldn't figure out how to say it and so he left it with the thanks. He hoped that Hershel would understand that it wasn't all he meant, it was just all that he could say about the situation.
Hershel smiled.
"No…" Hershel said. "Thank you. Now Jo and I don't have to stove up our old bones on the road all that time…and it'll do both our hearts good to know that some young people are getting some good use out of that old cabin. In our younger days it was a pretty special little courting spot."
Hershel winked at Daryl and Daryl felt his cheeks burn. Hershel chuckled and slipped back through the hold, standing again on the ladder.
"Come on, Daryl. Let's get this stuff downstairs. I can hear Jo already humming Christmas carols and that means they'll be cookies and hot chocolate in it for us both when all these boxes are down," Hershel said.
Daryl smiled and went back to bringing boxes over to the opening to pass down to the old man.
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"A cabin in the mountains?" Carol asked, nearly coming across the bed and toppling Daryl over when he'd told about the trip they'd be taking to check on things for Hershel and Miss Jo.
Daryl chuckled, Carol's arms wrapped tight around him in a hug. He steadied himself and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back softly.
"Yep," Daryl said. "We goin' up on Thursday…I'm gettin' off work early an' we comin' back on Monday. Gonna be like our own lil' honeymoon an' we ain't gotta do nothin' 'cept make sure they ain't no problems need ta be taken care of."
He hadn't expected Carol to be so excited, but she was nearly bursting at the seams over the thought of it. She pulled away from him then, sitting back on her heels on the bed.
"That's like two days," Carol said.
Daryl nodded, smiling.
"Gotta whole lotta stuff ta do?" He asked.
Carol nodded.
"I've got to tell Michonne…tell Loretta I won't be in…let Lula know I'm not working on Saturday," Carol started.
Daryl shushed her before she worked herself into something that even forcing her to do the funny breathing thing they learned in their class might not bring her out of.
"So ya just gonna tell 'em, ain't nothin' to it," Daryl said. "Hershel's payin' me for days worked an' he insisted on buyin' our gas an' stuff since they was gonna have ta make the trip anyway…so it ain't gonna matter too damn much if ya don't work a couple a' days."
Carol nodded a little and took an obviously deep breath to calm herself from her moment of working herself up.
"What about Lincoln?" She asked, the worry flooding her face again suddenly.
Daryl smiled.
"Why the fuck we got Andrea livin' her for free if she can't watch the dog a couple days?" Daryl asked. "'Sides…fuckin' Axel's over here all the damn time. Son of a bitch's gotta key. Just tell him we goin' outta town an' he'll bake the dog some damn cookies or some shit."
Carol smiled and chuckled a little at that.
"Do you have any winter clothes?" Carol asked. "I mean like a coat? If there's snow it's going to be even colder than it is here and all you've got is that leather coat…you'll freeze."
"Don't'cha worry 'bout that neither," Daryl asked. He was proud of himself. With Hershel and Miss Jo's help he was pretty damn sure he'd thought of nearly anything that she could come up with. "Hershel an' Miss Jo loanin' us coats just in case an' we ain't gonna freeze."
Carol smiled again, sighing. After a second of obviously trying to come up with something else to worry about, she squealed.
"We've never been on trip together!" Carol said.
Daryl couldn't hold back laughing at her. She was so damn excited that it felt like it would be impossible to be in the room with her and not be somewhat excited. He was happy about it, but he didn't feel like he even had the ability to reach the level of excited that she was right this second.
"No, we ain't," Daryl said. "But I reckon we goin' ta North Carolina."
Carol crawled to the edge of the bed and got off, walking around the room like she didn't know what she was doing. Daryl slid back, repositioning his pillow, and leaned against the headboard. He dug around on the nightstand and found the stack of little booklets and things he'd been reading. He was working his way through them slowly and figured he might as well read them while she did whatever it was that she was doing.
So he started reading, but he kept glancing at her as she paced.
"Fuck ya doin'?" He asked finally.
Carol looked at him.
"I don't know," she said. "I just feel like there's so much I should be doing and I don't know where to start…"
Daryl chuckled again.
"What'cha gotta do? Tomorrow ya tell everyone ya ain't gonna be at work an' we gotta pack…but that ain't gonna take all that long," Daryl said.
Carol snapped her fingers and looked at him.
"I can pack!" She said. "I can go ahead and pack…and then we don't have to worry about that last minute…"
She paused and bit her lip and Daryl chuckled again.
"What the hell is wrong now?" He asked.
"We don't have suitcases…we never pack," Carol said, shaking her head.
Daryl got up with a sigh, leaving his papers on the bed and went into the kitchen. He passed back to the bedroom a moment later shaking out one of the large drawstring trash bags they kept under the sink for the kitchen trash. He handed it to Carol.
"Here," he said. "Knock yaself out. Ya can take whatever the hell ya can fit in that bag."
Carol frowned at him again.
Daryl bit his lip, trying to figure out what the hell it might be this time. She looked at the bag and then back at him, opening her mouth slightly like she was going to say something, but not actually saying anything.
"Hell, ya can have two if that ain't big enough," Daryl offered.
Carol smiled at him and hopped a little, wrapping her arms around him again. Daryl chuckled and stood there, hugging her. He didn't know if they even owned enough stuff between the two of them to fill two of those bags, but if Carol wanted to pack everything they owned for a four day trip then he figured they'd get through that too.
When she broke the hug and went about packing, humming to herself, Daryl went back to the bed and settled himself in to read the next of the brightly colored and neatly folded booklets. He kept glancing, every now and again, at Carol when the humming stopped, but it seemed to only be stopping when she was concentrating on something especially hard.
Daryl smiled and shook his head at her. It might not be the fanciest damn trip they could take, but he doubted she could have been any happier if he'd said they were going somewhere like Hawaii or France. As long as they were going together, though, Daryl figured it would be the best damn trip they could take.