AN: OK, here's another little update for you all! I may get to update tomorrow, but I'm not sure. Busy weekend here for me, so I probably won't update until maybe Sunday night, but probably Monday.
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
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"No," Carol moaned. "I don't want to leave…"
They were lying in bed, the light streaming through the dirty plate glass window near them, and Daryl had only suggested that they get up for breakfast and talk about anything she might want to do before they had to leave the next morning.
Carol's sleepy response had been to pull the cover up almost entirely over her head, close her eyes tight, and declare that she didn't want to leave.
Daryl couldn't help but chuckle in response, leaning up on his elbow over her. He reached over and rubbed her cheek, almost the only part of her he could see between blankets and the mess of hair, and snickered.
"Ya don't wanna leave the bed or ya don't wanna leave the cabin?" Daryl asked.
"Yes to both," Carol responded. She sighed and stayed in her position for a moment before rolling over onto her back and looking at Daryl, her eyes still swollen from sleep.
"They's a lil' spot down the road a piece," Daryl said. "Looks like it ain't nothin' nice as Lula's, but I thought we could walk down there an' get somethin' good for breakfast."
He eyed her and started to roll back over, knowing that food was likely to get her attention.
"But if ya don't wanna leave…" Daryl said.
Carol snickered at him.
"I don't mind leaving temporarily," Carol said. "Can we walk?"
"Ain't sure how far away it is," he protested. "An' it's all snowy an' shit out there. I ain't wantin' ya bustin' ya ass."
Carol stuck her bottom lip out at him, fighting the smile that was making her face curl a little.
"I'll be with you," she said after a second. "I'm not going to fall down the hill like Jack and Jill, Daryl. I love the snow, though, and you've barely let me go outside since we got here. We can be careful. Besides…exercise is important for me and the baby and we haven't gotten much exercise since we got here."
Daryl chuckled and shook his head.
"I reckon we got plenty a' exercise," Daryl said. "Damn woman, ya 'bout wore me out."
"Come on, Daryl!" Carol protested, pushing up to rest on her elbows. "I want to walk in the snow with you!"
Daryl sighed.
"Fine, but we goin' slow an' ya holdin' my hand," he responded.
Carol smiled and nodded. She leaned over, kissing him and nipping at his lip as she pulled away.
"Let's get dressed," she said. "I'm hungry."
Daryl chuckled and jerked his pillow from behind him, smacking her with it. She grinned at him.
"Ya always fuckin' hungry!" Daryl responded.
Carol's only response was to get out of the bed then, going in search of the warmest clothes she could find for their hike.
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Carol walked along, down the middle of the road, with her arm looped in Daryl's. It was beautiful. There was just enough snow laying everywhere on the ground that the whole place was like a winter wonderland. Every now and again small flakes fluttered down around them, and even though she was cold, Carol thought it was the most refreshing feeling in the world.
This "honeymoon" that they were having, in her opinion, couldn't have gone better if it had been planned by someone who did this professionally. Everything was absolutely perfect, even if it was nothing special at all.
The cabin was darling. It was the perfect escape. There was no television, there was no one calling, there was nothing to deal with. As much as she loved her friends back home, she was realizing with the silence that the cabin offered just how much hustle and bustle their bunch provided.
Here it was just her and Daryl…and Lil' Bit when she decided she wanted to stir around a bit. They'd spent the whole time doing nothing, but it was the best nothing that she could have ever dreamed of.
It had been a honeymoon complete of making love…drinking hot chocolate on the porch despite the cold…and making love some more, and Carol didn't think her heart could have stood too much more of it or it might simply have burst from simply realizing how much she loved Daryl and how much she loved her life now.
And now they were walking down the middle of the road, since there was nothing really to report in the way of traffic, down the mountain a little piece to a small diner where they'd feast on breakfast with the locals and then trek back up together to probably burn off breakfast with some more of their recent activities.
Carol sighed and smiled to herself, hugging Daryl's arm tighter to her and rubbing her cheek against his shoulder a little as they walked.
"Ya OK?" Daryl asked.
Carol glanced at him.
"I'm perfect," she responded.
"Ya ain't too tired?" Daryl asked, wrinkling his brow.
"I'm fine, Daryl," Carol protested. "I'm better than fine."
Daryl nodded his head a little and they continued on, quiet for a bit. The walk to the diner or the restaurant, or whatever it was that Daryl had seen on the drive up, was downhill. Honestly, Carol imagined that it wasn't going to be the challenging part of the journey at all. She was sure it was going to be a lot more effort when they headed back up.
Carol never saw the ice, but when she went down, she took Daryl down with her. The only difference being that he hit his feet again before he'd barely hit the ground. If she hadn't been concentrating, for the moment on the almost certain death of her tailbone, she would have laughed at the fact that Daryl had the reflexes of a rubber ball at the moment.
"Christ! Are ya OK?" Daryl spat, turning toward her quickly and nearly wrenching her arm out of the socket trying to pull her up before her brain nor her body had decided she was ready for that action.
"Stop pulling my arm!" She protested, still hissing at her rear end. Daryl eased up a little and she leaned forward a second.
"ARE YA OK?" Daryl repeated, somewhat frantic.
Carol chuckled a little, whining at the end of it over the fact that she was pretty certain she'd broken her ass if that was possible and she'd clacked her teeth together hard on impact.
"I'm fine," she said. "I think I broke my ass."
"That shit ain't funny!" Daryl said. He reached back and caught her arm again and she offered him the other hand too so that he could actually pull her up without dislocating anything. When she was standing she rubbed the spot where she'd landed.
"Are you OK?" Carol asked. Daryl had fallen too, and he'd gone all the way down, though she wasn't sure he even realized it at the moment.
"I'm fine," Daryl said, his voice still higher pitched than nnormal. "Is the baby OK? What about the baby? She OK?"
"Calm down," Carol said. "I'm sure she's fine, and besides jamming my butt up into my neck, and you ripping my arm off, I'm fine."
"Sorry," Daryl said, still not looking calm.
Carol's knees were shaking just over the nerves of the fall, but she wasn't going to admit that to Daryl. She felt far sorrier for him at the moment than she felt for herself. If she hadn't known him any better, and hadn't known that there was no way he was going to do it, she might have thought he'd cry for a minute from the wide array of expressions that were sweeping over his face. He was standing awkwardly beside her, hovering his hands around her like he didn't know what to do.
Carol reached out with the hand she wasn't using to rub her aching backside and squeezed Daryl's arm.
"Breathe, Daryl," Carol said. "I'm fine…it's OK? Alright?"
Daryl bit at his thumb in response and Carol reached up, catching his hand and holding it in hers to keep him from possibly drawing blood.
"We oughta go back," Daryl offered.
Carol chuckled.
"Why, Daryl?" She asked. "We've got to be getting close…let's just go and get breakfast. I'll pass out from starvation if we try to climb back up this mountain without eating."
Daryl looked at her, his eyebrows tightly knit together.
"Ya sure ya OK?" Daryl asked.
Carol smiled and nodded.
"I'm fine, Daryl," she said.
Carol moved then and wrapped her arm around Daryl's back and he put his around hers. She could feel him tighten his grip around her, his hand coming around her side. He was tense to the touch and she felt sorry for him, and sorry that she'd done it to him.
They continued on, very slowly and without saying anything, until they reached the tiny hole in the wall diner that Daryl had seen. He silently let go of Carol and pulled the door to the establishment open, revealing a place to Carol that made Lula's seem like a four star restaurant. The place was fairly clean, though, and the six or so people inside looked cheerful, so Carol was pleased with the little establishment and almost immediately started to ignore her throbbing backside.
She directed Daryl to a booth that was empty, one of the only booths in the place, and slid in.
Daryl sat across from her, very obviously fretting. He picked up the menu, but she'd have believed he was actually reading it just as much if he'd had it upside down.
"Please stop worrying," Carol said finally, reaching across and catching his hand in hers. "Please? We've only got one day left here and I don't want you to spend it worrying. I slipped…it's fine…I fell out of the bathtub a week ago and probably landed harder than that…"
Daryl looked at her like she'd just told him the most terrible thing he'd ever heard in his life.
"Ya didn't tell me ya fell out the fuckin' tub!" Daryl responded.
Carol chuckled and leaned toward him a little.
"Because I knew you would react like this," she urged. "I'm clumsy, Daryl…I feel like an ox or something…I'm going to fall down sometimes."
Daryl shook his head.
"Ya ain't s'posed ta fall down! What if the baby's hurt?" Daryl asked.
"She's fine, Daryl," Carol said. "We're both fine, but I don't want you worrying anymore."
Daryl sighed a heavy sigh.
"Ya goin' ta the doctor Tuesday mornin'," Daryl said. "Gon' make sure she's OK."
Carol sighed.
"It's not that serious, Daryl," she said. "Don't you think I'd be upset if I thought it was something serious?"
Daryl shook his head and chuckled a little, but it wasn't a genuine laugh.
"I don't care," Daryl said. "Ya goin' or we goin' home right now an' ya goin' in the mornin'."
Carol rolled her eyes at him and groaned.
"Fine," she said. "I'll call up there Tuesday morning and see if I can get an appointment."
Daryl nodded slightly at her, still not looking entirely relieved.
"Can you please stop worrying now? Let us enjoy the rest of our trip?" Carol asked.
When Daryl looked at her again like she was crazy, she chuckled.
"Fine, don't stop worrying, then," she said. "Just put it on hold until Tuesday. Do you think you could do that?"
Daryl sighed and reached his hand across the table, taking hers up and pulling it toward him. He rubbed it between his hands gently to warm up her fingers.
"I just don't want'cha ta get hurt an' I can't help but worry. I don't want nothin' ta happen ta neither one a' ya," Daryl said.
Carol moved her hand then and caught his, bringing it to her. She kissed his fingers quickly and then turned his hand over, realizing she felt something rougher than usual. The palm of his hand had gotten pretty well chewed up in one spot from the asphalt, but he hadn't mentioned that. Carol smiled at him softly and shook her head.
"That's only one of the many reasons I love you," Carol said. "But I don't want you to worry too much, OK? I'm not a china doll."
"Might not be," Daryl said, "but'cha far more important ta me than any damn doll…an' I'ma worry whether ya like it or not."
Carol nodded slightly, still smiling at him. He returned the smile, though.
"Let's get some breakfast?" Carol asked. "I'm starving."
Daryl nodded slightly and craned around the booth, trying to find a waitress and get her attention. Carol knew he wasn't done worrying…but maybe he could at least put it on hold for a bit.
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Carol hadn't pushed Daryl when he'd said he'd feel better if they not make love because he didn't want to jostle the baby anymore for the day. He had some fear, one that she was going to ask Bobbie to address in some manner, that the baby could be "shook loose" as he put it, and she wasn't going to push him.
He'd at least calmed down that evening when she'd lied down on the couch, pulling her shirt up and he'd been able to see the twitches every now and again of the baby who was stirring around. Their daughter had, as was customary, settled down some time ago, but Carol remained in her position on the couch and Daryl sat on the floor, his head leaned on his arm that rested on the couch, looking at her and talking with her in the quiet of their last night in the cabin.
Carol ran her fingers through Daryl's hair, not minding what they did or that they really weren't doing anything. She really was enjoying this just as much as she might have enjoyed any activity that they could have done.
"You know what?" Carol asked after they'd been silent for a few minutes.
"What?" Daryl asked, his voice a little groggy. She assumed that having been stressed for the better part of the day and coming down from that, coupled by the relaxing air of the cabin and the fact that she was massaging his scalp, which he always enjoyed, was making him tired.
"You're going to be a wonderful Daddy," Carol said.
Daryl shifted his head a little, resting his chin on his arm instead of his cheek and looked at her.
"Ya don't know that," he said.
Carol smiled.
"Yes I do," she said. "You already love her and you haven't even seen her…you're going to be even more crazy about her when you see her."
Carol tried, whenever possible, to talk up to Daryl how good of a father he was going to be. She knew that for him it was a very big spot of worry and she wanted to do everything possible…everything in the world…to feed his enthusiasm about the baby and to reassure him that he was going to be the father of the year every year.
Luckily Michonne and Andrea understood it too, so they fed it as well…as did Tyreese. She wasn't sure about Merle, but she could only hope that the man would have enough sense to see how important it was to Daryl, and how much he worried about it deep down, and how truly necessary it was to make sure that nothing killed Daryl's enthusiasm over his daughter.
"I've seen her," Daryl said. He yawned. "We got that picture."
Carol smiled.
"Oh, but wait until we get to have her here and we get to talk about whose eyes she got, or whose mouth and nose…wait until you get to hold her," Carol said, catching his yawn and mirroring it.
"I don't know nothin' 'bout babies," Daryl said. "I might fuck it up big time…ya don't know."
Carol shifted a little, dropping her hand to catch his.
"You love her, Daryl…the rest is just details. You'll figure all that out. It's the love that really matters," Carol said.
Daryl took her hand and pulled it to his lips, kissing her fingers.
"She's gonna have one hell of a Mama too, ya know," Daryl said.
Carol smiled at him.
"I think she's going to be one pretty lucky little girl," Carol said.
"Ya might be right," Daryl said. He was quiet for a minute and then he chuckled to himself.
"What's so funny?" Carol asked.
Daryl shook his head a little.
"Was just thinkin' that her Grandpa Hershel's gonna have her a damn pony 'fore she's two an' her Aunt 'Chonne's prob'ly gonna buy her the damn stable ta go with that shit," Daryl said, chuckling.
Carol echoed his laugh and then groaned.
"Better than her Uncle Merle making sure her first words are 'fuck you'," Carol responded.
Daryl laughed.
"An' they gon' be directed at her Aunt Andrea…what the fuck we doin' ta this kid?" Daryl asked.
"Making sure her life is never boring," Carol responded.
Daryl chuckled and kissed her fingers again.
"Ya can say that again!" He responded.