Well, I got my homework done just fine and actually got a perfect score on our History of EMS and Communications quiz! And I read the chapters at 3 A.M.! So excited for this career switch! Emergency Medical Services is where I belong! Except...they showed us some trauma pictures today from this area and...they looked like the after effect of a zombie herd. Yikes...good thing I have a very strong stomach!
Carol spent the entire morning with Sophia, picking beans from the garden before the sun got too high then cutting them in the shade of the trees for Patricia to take inside and can, dry and freeze. But through the entire morning, they had talked mostly of unimportant, funny or happy things...Carol could quite bring herself to start the conversation she knew needed to happen.
"Hey, Sophia..." Carol tried to start the conversation straight out.
"Yeah, mommy?" Sophia replied, looking up at Carol with blue eyes full of innocence.
"I...there's something..." Carol tried so hard but the look on her baby's face made her words dry up. She didn't realize how hard this would be! How do parents do this? "I think we're done cutting beans. You can go play with Carl if you want, he asked me if you two could go out shooting with Rick this afternoon."
At the mention of shooting, Sophia's eyes lit up and she grinned.
"Are you sure, mom?" she asked, "We still have a big bowl of beans to do!"
"Oh, I think I can handle one bowl," Carol laughed, "Plus, they're loading up the truck now so you better go now if you want to go at all!"
Sophia gave her a smile before skipping off towards the truck where Carl, Rick, Glenn and Andrea were loading the truck with guns, ammo and makeshift targets. Carol sighed as she watched her go...crap, she had chickened out.
"Hey, honey, need some help there?" Lori's voice cut into her thoughts and she looked up at the younger woman with a smile.
"If you have time, then sure," she replied. Lori took a seat on the other side of the large bowl of beans and started snapping then ends and then tossing them in the bucket next to Carol who took them out and cut them into thirds.
"Carol..." Lori began as she snapped her seventh bean, "I wanted to apologize for last night..."
Carol kept her eyes on the knife as she cut the beans.
"Lori...I know what everyone must be thinking..." she started slowly and carefully.
"No, Carol...we've all seen what Daryl has done for you and...and for us," Lori was having a hard time admitting this, Carol could tell. "But...can you understand why it's hard to see him like you do for the rest of us? I can't seem to get the image of him going at Rick with that knife back at the quarry..."
Carol swallowed thickly. Of course she remembered the instance, she had been standing near Lori at the time. She remembered Daryl's angry voice echoing over the quarry and the fury in his eyes when Rick had told him the situation. She remembered the animalistic rage that had been obvious in him as he charged Rick...and she also remembered the tears that he had angrily wiped away at the realization that his brother may very well be dead.
"What if it was Rick who'd been chained to that roof and Daryl had been the one to leave him there?" Carol asked softly. "What would you have done?"
Lori stopped snapping her beans and looked up slowly, meeting Carol's eyes, comprehension and understanding dawning on her face.
"I...I honestly never stopped to think about how he must have felt..." she admitted, "I was too worried about Rick going back into Atlanta."
"He's human too, you know?" Carol said, her eyes drifted to where Daryl was sitting by the barn skinning squirrels. "There's a lot behind that rough exterior and those harsh words. He's got a heart as big as Texas."
Lori's gaze went to Daryl as well, a small smile on her face.
"Well, Carol, I'm sorry for what I said about him," Lori apologized, "I was just mad."
"I know, Lori...he was pretty rude last night," Carol agreed, "But I think he was a little embarressed and didn't really want to talk about it."
Lori nodded and went back to her job of snapping.
"Lori..."Carol ventured to ask after a while of silence. "Have you...have you had the talk with Carl yet?"
"Ugh, no..." Lori replied as if she had just remembered she still had to do that, "I meant to, but then the world went to hell and I kind of forgot."
"I have no idea how to do it," Carol admitted, "And after last night...I thin I owe Sophia an explaination."
"Yeah, I'd say so," Lori said with a wink, "Wish I could help you out...but I don't know what to do either."
Carol sighed. She was just going to have to be brave and tell it like it is.
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The target practice group returned later that afternoon and Sophia immediately headed for the tent across the pasture where her mother had been staying lately, she had so much to tell her!
"Mom!" she called as she skipped up to the tent, "Mom, I shot a bullseye!"
She heard a shuffling sound from inside the tent and she waited as the zipper was opened. But her mom wasn't who stepped out, it was Daryl Dixon and he looked like a bear who was woken from its hibernation. He glared at her, his hair was sticking out from where he had laid on it.
"What are you yappin' about, kid?" he grumbled, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes while trying to maintain his glare.
"I...I...I..." Sophia was struck with fear at the sudden appearance of the man in their group who scared her the most. Sure, he had found her in the woods and saved her life...but he was mean and rude and he was dirty and bloody from skinning cute little squirrels. Sophia took a step back and dropped her eyes from his face, to his hands, to his buck knife, to the ground.
"Spit it out," Daryl commanded with a sigh.
"I...was looking for my mom," Sophia admitted, "She...she's been sleeping here lately because there's no room in Mr. Rick and Mrs. Lori's tent."
Daryl made a funny face, Sophia couldn't tell exactly what it meant, and he chuckled deeply.
"She talk to you about that yet?" he asked offhandedly, leaning down to pick up a rock which he tossed towards the overgrown hayfield.
"About what?" Sophia asked, wide eyed.
Daryl stood up straight and he looked at Sophia out of the corner of his eye.
"Guess not..." he said in a low voice. "Look...kid, your mom's in the house helping with the cannin'. You better go find her and tell her your news."
Sophia stood there looking at this man for a little while longer. The way he said that last statement had seemed...almost kind. She wasn't sure what to think of him.
"Do you like my mom, Mr. Daryl?" she asked quietly.
Daryl turned to face her completely and he squinted at her, she could tell her was thinking deeply. Finally he sighed heavily and looked away again.
"What makes you ask that?"
"Well...you seemed to like her a whole lot last night," Sophia said without thinking, "You kissed her for a long time. Daddy never kissed mommy like that...he...he liked to hit her sometimes. Would you ever hit a lady? Mom says real men don't hit ladies. Are you a real man, Mr. Daryl?"
The bombardment of words from the usually silent little girl made Daryl's head spin, but the innocent blue eyes staring up at him kept his annoyance in check and he managed not to snap at her to go away and quit bothering him. Instead he mulled the questions over in his mind.
"No, kid," he finally replied, "I'd never hit a lady."
Sophia's smile was big and bright.
"Well then...I hope you do like my mom," she stated simply. "You're nice, I think. You're kind of scary sometimes...but you're actually not really."
With that, Sophia spun on her heel and took off at a skip towards the house, leaving Daryl staring after her with a small smile on his lips.
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"Mom! I hit the bullseye!" Carol heard her daughter's voice as the front door swung open. She dropped the towel she was wiping the counter with and turned to smile at Sophia.
"You did?" she asked, very impressed if it was indeed true. "What did you shoot with?"
"Carl's gun," she said, puffing her chest up with pride. "I hit a bullseye before he did!"
"Carl has his own gun?" Carol was surprised by this news, Lori would probably freak out if she knew...
"Yeah, it's a handgun about this big," Sophia held her hands a small way apart, "It's black and it says "Browning" on the handle. Mr. Shane said it was a...9 mil, whatever that means."
"Um...Sophia, where did he get the gun?" Carol had a suspicion.
"He said he found it," Sophia shrugged, obviously not concerned.
Carol bit her bottom lip and hung her head...Daryl had been looking for that gun. She would have to remember to tell Rick about it later so he could do something before Daryl found out Carl had stolen it. But...there was a more important issue at hand.
"Sophia," Carol stood up and set her shoulders, determined to get this over with once and for all. "I need to talk to you about something very important."
Sophia got a frightened look on her face.
"Is something wrong, mom?" she asked, wide eyed.
"No, no, honey, nothing's wrong," Carol replied with a smile, "There's just...some things you need to know."
So Carol led Sophia outside and they sat on the porch swing together. As they sat there, swaying slowly, Carol tried to figure out how to start the conversation with it being terrifying.
"Um...Sophia," Oh God...this is so difficult. "Have you ever wondered...what makes boys and girls different?"
Sophia's eyes widened.
"Well...boys are bigger. And they've got hair all over and they smell bad sometimes," Sophia replied.
"Well, that's true..." Carol agreed with a nod, "But there's more to it than just that."
Sophia was now looking at her with complete interest and Carol felt her courage slip. But she reached into her trusty bag and pulled out the small cartoonish book out of it. Maggie had given it to her that afternoon when she had admitted to her about trying to explain things to Sophia. Maggie said they had given the book to Beth when she was younger and went through it with her instead of sitting down and trying to explain with no examples.
"Honey...I want to you take this and read it," she said as she handed the life-changing book to her daughter. She had previewed the book and it was definitely a no-nonsense type book, detailed enough to clearly present the issue, descreet enough to leave out things that weren't necessary to know...Carol had seen those type of books explain blowjobs and stuff like that and Carol REALLY didn't feel like explaining things like that just yet.
Sophia looked down at the book with wide eyes, the cover displayed two naked cartoon children, anatomically correct.
"When you're done, we'll talk about it, ok?" Carol continued, trying to ease the awkwardness of the moment. Sophia only nodded slightly as she scanned the front cover intently.
Relieved for a moment, Carol got up and let Sophia alone to read. "I'll be in the kitchen cleaning up."
Daryl shouldered his crossbow and grabbed Carol's longbow from it's place inside the tent and headed towards the house to see if she was up for some practice. She had been getting fairly good at it and he wanted to encourage her improvement.
When he came up the steps of the porch he saw Sophia sitting on the porch swing with a book in her hands, reading intently with huge eyes. Out of curiosity, he approached quietly to see if he could catch the book title. But when he stopped in front of her, she jumped as his shadow fell over her and she squeaked in surprise.
"Sorry, kid, didn't mean to sneak up on you," he apologized, taking a step back. Was it his imagination or did her eyes linger on his crotch just then? Uncomfortable, he backed off and went inside.
Carol was leaning over the island in the center of the kitchen wiping it down with a cloth. Something about that position gave him a wicked idea and he carefully set down weapons down silently in the hall and then snuck silently into the kitchen and up to her. When he reached her, he gripped her by the hips and pulled her flush into him from behind, ignoring the firghtened gasp she gave and the way she pushed against him. Gently but firmly, he leaned her over the counter and nipped the top of her ear.
"Always wanted to do this," he whispered, grinding into her left hip slowly.
"Daryl, get off me!" Carol insisted, but he could hear the smile in her voice, "Maggie will be back in here any minute."
"Eh, who cares?" Daryl asked gruffly.
"I kind of do," Carol replied, "I mean...finding people having sex on your counter is kind of...disturbing. More disturbing than usual."
Daryl growled deeply, but Carol felt him back off enough for her to turn around and face him. He was smiling slightly, but his eyes were dilated and dark so she knew he wasn't kidding around and she wished she could help him out right now but she couldn't...not until later.
"I still have to talk to Sophia," she whispered quietly as she pressed her lips to his neck.
"Is she readin' a sex ed book out there on the porch?" Daryl's voice vibrated against her lips as it came out of his throat and she liked how it felt.
"Uh...yeah," Carol said as she broke her kiss and slipped under his arm and away from the counter. "I...kind of took the easy way out."
Daryl turned around and leaned back against the counter, resting his elbow on the edge as he looked at her in amusement.
"It ain't gonna let you totally off the hook, ya know?" he said with a grin.
"Well...how did your parents tell YOU?" she asked snippily. She immediaetely regretted it when his face lost it's amusement and he crossed his arms in a defensive stance. "I'm...I'm sorry...I didn't think before I said that."
"Naw, it's fine, Carol," he said quietly, and she knew it wasn't exactly fine. But he didn't leave or start mumbling like he would have before. "You honestly wanna know how I learned?"
Carol nodded...why did she want to know?
"Well, all you gotta do is watch the animals," he said matter of factly.
"Goats?"
"Goats."
"Did you ever ask anyone about it?"
"Nope. Figured it out on my own."
Carol wished there were some dogs or cats or something around that Sophia could see and figure it out herself...but the only animals around were cows and they weren't anywhere around to be seen, their pasture was pretty far from the farmhouse and their campsite.
"I wish we had some goats," she announced wistfully, to herself but out loud.
Daryl's full out laugh made her look back at him. He had dropped the defensive arm cross and was leaning back with ease and smiling at her. God...that smile was a very special thing. When Daryl smiled, his entire face changed. The darkness under his eyes that made him look so dark and fierce disappeared and his lips curled back over his teeth, revealing their prefectly straight and surprisingly white surfaces. His eyes squinted and she could see the lines at the corners of them spread toward his temples. When Daryl Dixon smiled, every worry melted from Carol's mind.
And before she knew what had possessed her, she had crossed the distance between them and literally jumped him. She grabbed his face in her hands and crushed her lips to his and wrapped her right leg around his hip bucking into him. He did just what she wanted him to do when he gripped her thighs and pulled both of her legs around him, supporting her weight with his hips and hands, which allowed absolutely no space between them where it mattered and Carol's stomach clenched and flipped and twisted at the feeling of him growing rapidly hard against her. She broke the kiss to trail her lips and tongue and teeth down the side of his neck, causing a deeop, rumbling groan to flood her ears and that only encouraged her further. She bucked her hips roughly into him, digging him into the counter behind him.
"This isn't really the position I had in mind for this," Daryl's deep mumble made her giggle, but she continued her assault. She knew he was letting her do this, there was no way she could ever overpower him, if he truely wanted to change anything about this it would take little effort on his part and she would be powerless to resist. That was one of things about him that drove her wild...he was just as strong, and much stronger in reality, as Ed ever was and she knew he could toss her around like a ragdoll if he wanted to but, even when he did take charge, he was never rough. In fact...she wished he would be a little bit more agressive...
"MOM!" Carol's thoughts were completely shattered by that sound. Holy shit! She immediately pushed herself away from Daryl, who released his hold on her like she was on fire and pressed even further into the counter than she thought possible. He ran his hand through his hair and turned toward the kitchen sink to hide the obvious bulge in his jeans from the eyes of the small child who was staring at her mother in horror.
"Oh...Sophia..." Carol couldn't even imagine how red her face was at that moment. "I can explain..."
"You were going to have sex!" Sophia shouted. Carol stiffened and she heard Daryl snort loudly and she saw him cover his mouth to hold back the laughter.
"Young lady..." Carol warned her, "Don't shout stuff like that out."
"But mom, that book I just read siad it's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Did you understand?" Carol asked nervously.
"Well...kind of but they didn't really show any pictures so I didn't know what it would look like," Sophia admitted, blatantly. Daryl snorted again and excused himself as he left the kitchen as quickly as he could, Carol heard his burst of laughter just before the front door slammed.
"Chicken," she muttered out the window at his retreating form, then she refocused on Sophia. "Sophia, honey...we weren't really...doing that, we were just hugging really tight."
Sophia looked skeptical, but nodded.
"Now...is there anything you're confused about?" Carol actually felt emboldened by the turn of events, nothing could possibly embarress her any worse.
"Well...um...does it hurt?" Sophia's wide blue eyes met hers and Carol regretted the answer she had to give.
"Well...yes, the first time," she admitted.
"Then why do it?" Sophia asked, "It's really gross."
Carol laughed and sat down heavily on a chair by the dish cabinet.
"Oh, honey, it's something you'll understand when you get older," she said, "And I know grown ups say that all the time but it's true. Right now I don't expect you to understand, but one day you'll see why."
Sophia seemed less than satisfied with the answer but she nodded.
"You see, Sophia," Carol tried to make the whole concept less frightening and weird, "When a girl and a boy love eachother, they want to be as close as possible to show the other one how much they love them. And...you can't get any closer than that. It's a way of showing someone you love them. And it should NEVER be done if you don't really, truely love that person."
"Do you love Mr. Daryl?" Sophia questioned, looking straight into her mother's eyes.
Carol smiled, her thoughts flooded with images of Daryl's face, his eyes, his strong arms as they wrapped around her, his rare smile, his even more rare laughter, the way he would stumble into the tent at night after a late night watch keeping, the way he looked when he was covered in a sheen of sweat from working hard, the way he crouched in his hunter's walk, the way he chewed on his thumb when he was nervous...
"Yes, hon, I do," she heard herself answer her daughter, almost like an out of body experience, visions of Daryl still dancing in her brain.
"Well then," Sophia stated simply, "You should show him. You two should have sex!"
And with that, Sophia seemed to be satisfied with the whole concept that Carol had been terrified of revealing to her and she kissed Carol's cheek before skipping towards the door with a shout of "Good night, mom!" over her shoulder.
Carol just sat looking at the screen door in shocked silence, until her mind caught up with the situation and she started laughing uncontrollably.
The front door squeaked and Daryl walked back in, looking nervous.
"Well...how did she take it?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow at her laughter.
"Very, VERY well," Carol replied, wiping away the tears she had laughed out. "She understands and...and she's very, um, supportive."
"What?"
Carol stood up and ran her hand shamelessly down his torso inside his vest with the wings on it (she loved that vest he had cleverly turned into a jacket), feeling the hardened muscles underneath the material twitch and flex from her touch.
"She flat out told me I should go find you and have sex," Carol said with a wicked grin, slipping her hand under his shirt.
"Smart kid," Daryl said gruffly, he clutched her wrist in his hand and pulled her towards the door. The sun had set sometime during the whole ordeal but the campsite was still bustling with activity so he switched directions and led her toward the stables. The thought of rolling in the hay with this man made Carol shiver with anticipation.
Daryl swung open an empty stall with his foot and then closed it behind them, pushing Carol firmly into the wood slats of the wall to the left. Carol gasped at the hard wood at her back, it was slightly uncomfortable, but she wasn't going to complain because she was too busy enjoying his gusto. But the seriousness of the moment was shattered when she heard his voice cut through her heavy breathing:
"I think we're a hell of a lot better of an example than a bunch of damn goats."
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For serious...the man's smile is something amazing. Check this out . / tumblr_lw2mpjj72C1r6mfowo4_250. gif
Anywho...Johnny Bravo is on and I must go watch! Keep up the feedback. From this point I have no solid plot plans so I am totally happy with any good suggestions you may have! For serious...tell me what ya'll want to see!