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Carol and Daryl spent most of the next morning setting up their camp for winter. Daryl swapped out their small, two person tent for the Grimes' larger one because he claimed they needed more space if Sophia was going to stay with them.
"You want Sophia to stay with us?" Carol had asked in amazement.
"Family should stick together," he had replied simply. Carol felt her heart skip a beat at his words...they were a family now, and HE had been the one to say it first.
"Yeah, they should," Carol agreed, eyeing him with a soft gaze as he struggled to hold the line from the tent, the peg and the hammer all at once. Taking pity on his obvious lack of multitasking abilities, she knelt next to him and held thepeg steady while he tied the rope to it. The smile he gave her made her heart flutter.
Soon enough the tent was up and secure and Carol insisted on organizing everything so Daryl just passed stuff into the tent while she fixed it up to her liking, shit, he didn't care as long as he could find stuff when he wanted it.
"There we are," Carol sighed, finally emerging from the tent, "Everything's set, now we just have to get Sophia and her things."
Daryl nodded and grabbed his crossbow, slinging it over his shoulder and walking towards the woods.
"Where do you think you're going?" Carol called after him. He turned around to face her but pointed over his shoulder at the woods, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth slightly, meaning he was nervous and trying to seem nonchalant. Carol was beginning to read his little cues very easily, because the man couldn't hold still when he was nervous. He would wring his hands, rub his chin, mess with his hair, chew his fingers, lick his lips, look at anything but her, etc.
"Goin' huntin'," he said lamely.
"Oh no," Carol scolded, "Oh no, no, no. You are going to march your tight little ass over to that farmhouse and you're going to tell Sophia about us."
"What? Why me? She's your daughter!"
"She's yours too now, Daryl!"
"Not yet, she's not!"
"You wanna call it off?"
Daryl fell silent, his shoulders dropping slightly and he shook his head as his eyes dropped to the ground.
"It's just..." he hesitated, "I don't know how to tell her..."
"Daryl..." Carol approached him and placed her hands on his forearms and slid them down to hold both of his hands. "It's not easy being a parent, trust me. Sometimes we don't have the words to say but we try to make our point anyway. I believe you can do it and I want it to be you who tells her."
"What if...?" Daryl seemed to choke on his words.
"What?" Carol asked softly, squeezing his hands for reassurance.
"What if she...doesn't...approve?" his voice sounded so small.
"Daryl Dixon," Carol chided, looking him firmly in the eyes. "You're the bravest man I know. You're wreckless and you're not scared of anything...but you're terrified of a little girl!"
Daryl squinted at her, a look of determination crossed his face and he pushed past her lightly, aiming towards the farmhouse. Carol followed behind him, giving him a smack on the left asscheek on their way past the tent.
"Go get 'er, tiger."
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Sophia was sitting on the porch steps with her bobcat which she had christened LuLu, tossing a homemade tug of war rope across the driveway for it to fetch. Daryl eyed the rapidly growing feline with caution and skirted slightly around her on his path to Sophia.
"Sophia," he called, waving her over to the center of the driveway where he and Carol stood. "C'mere for a minute."
Sophia looked surprised but she rose to her feet and made her way towards them, tossing the rope for LuLu off to the side to distract the cat for a bit.
"Did I do something wrong?" was the first thing she asked. She looked up at them with worried eyes.
"No, Sophia, but there's something you need to know," Carol helped Daryl out a little bit by getting the ball rolling.
Daryl nodded to her in thanks and bit his bottom lip for a second as he thought deeply, then heunstrung his crossbow and knelt on one knee in front of Sophia, getting to her eye level. He laid the bow aside and slowly placed his hands on Sophia's upper arms, looking into her eyes.
"Sophia," he started, his voice was gentle and soft, it was a voice Carol had never heard him use before and she wondered...if he even knew he was capable of it. "Your mom and I...we want you to come stay with us at our little campsite."
Sophia looked up at Carol who just nodded for her to pay attention to him. Her wide blue eyes went back to looking at Daryl with surprise.
"See...you're mom said this morning that families should stick together," Daryl continued, his nerves seemed to slowly be losing the battle against his will, "So I want us to stick together...as a family."
Comprehension slowly dawned on Sophia's face but Daryl wasn't quite done yet.
"Sophia, I love yer mom like I ain't never loved nothin' or nobody," he stated seriously, "Now I ain't never been nobody's daddy or nobody's...well anythin', but I wanna be if you're ok with that?"
Sophia remained silent for a moment, her eyes searching Daryl's face for...well Carol didn't know what, but she felt her breath catch in her throat from the fear that Sophia was going to bolt any second. "Daddy" wasn't a word she knew the rel meaning of...as little as "husband" had meant to Carol. But suddenly Sophia squealed loudly and flung her arms around Daryl's neck and squeezed him with all the strength of her small arms, causing Daryl to flinch majorly but then he melted into laughter and grabbed her by the waist, spinning her around as he stood up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung on even though she knew she was too big to be held anymore and Daryl held her tight and winked over her shoulder at Carol.
"Alright, Sophia," Carol laughed, "Don't strangle him already, we aren't even married yet! I want to have for a little while at least."
Sophia giggled and, before she slid down his leg to the ground, planted a firm kiss on his stubbled cheek and made a face.
"You're scratchy," she said, rubbing her lips with the back of her hand, "How do you kiss him, mom!"
Carol laughed and showed her exactly how she kissed him.
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The scene on the driveway was not missed by the eyes inside. Andrea had been wiping the kitchen counter down when she looked out the window and saw Daryl talking to Sophia, and she had nearly knocked a glass off when he had twirled Sophia around like it was the most natural thing ever for him to do. She threw the towel down and made her way to the door, waiting for Carol to come inside.
Soon enough, Daryl left for the woods and Carol directed Sophia towards the house.
"Go get your stuff packed," Carol was saying as they came up on the porch, "I'll be there to help in a minute."
Sophia rushed by and Carol entered a few moments later, but she was grabbed and forced into the kitchen before she had the chance to resist.
"Spill it, Carol," Andrea stated with excitement, "What was that all about?"
Carol looked at Andrea with surprise at first and then smiled broadly.
"Well...it all started last night when..."
"Yeah, what DID he want last night?" Andrea interrupted, "He told me to make sure you came outside when everything was ready last night. Wouldn't tell me why though!"
"Well...he wanted to marry me," Carol replied, in the most nonchalant manner possible, leading Andrea on toward crazytown.
"HE WHAT!" Andrea's squeal was nearly deafening. "OH MY GOSH! HE WANTS TO MARRY YOU! DARYL DIXON?"
"Shhh!" Carol clapped a hand over Andrea's mouth, "Don't tell the whole world yet!"
"Oh...right!" Andrea's level dropped immediately and she pulled up two chairs and sat facing Carol. "So...how did he do it? Was it sweet? Was it lame? Did he give you a ring?"
Carol held out her hand to show the little silver circle with the single blue stone in it, blue the color of Daryl's eyes and deep water. Andrea pulled it off and examined it.
"I know where he got this..." she mused, "Wal*Mart. He made me distract you with those winter clothes...so that's where he disappeared to."
"Wait...he's been planning this for that long?" Carol remembered the trip to town...it seemed so long ago now.
"Guess so," Andrea stated, giving the ring back, "It's a very good choice though...it suits you."
"I've always appreciated simple and sweet," Carol admitted, twisting the ring on her finger with a smile.
"Well then you've got the right guy," Andrea said with a wink, "So...tell me how he did it!"
So Carol spent the entire time Sophia packed telling her the story of how he had drove her out to the hayfield, the stargazing, every word of his confession of love to her since she had it memorized by heart, and even the awkwardly adorable way he had actually popped the question. Andrea was glowing by the end, her eyes far off and dreamy.
"Mmm, Carol, who would have thought he was capable of such...not himness?" she mused, smiling.
"I always knew he wasn't all he seemed," Carol stated with a soft smile of recollection, "He just needed someone who wouldn't run from his bullshit or judge him for his background. Andrea...you have no idea what he's been through...no idea what he's seen."
Andrea simply kept her smile plastered on, her eyes soft with sympathy.
"No, I don't," she admitted, "But you do and he trusts that knowledge with you...and that's all that matters. I'm so happy for you, Carol. When are you setting this in stone?"
Carol thought for a moment.
"Anytime, I suppose, but we haven't really set a day," she said thoughtfully, "Do you think...do we need a preacher these days?"
"No way," Andrea laughed, "These days...all you need is...mutual affection."
"I still want to make it official," Carol said, "Nothing big because I KNOW that would freak him out, but...just a small thing to make it legitimate."
"I hear ya, girl," Andrea nodded, "I bet Rick could do it, he was Law Enforcement."
"We'll see about it," Carol said distracted by Sophia's reappearance with her box packed with all her things. "I'll let you know as soon as I do."
Andrea watched out the window as the mother and daughter walked off to their new home...their new life was more like it.
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So this is kinda short but this was just something I had to put in before they actually begin their coexistence. Honestly, I would have done the whole wedding thing tonight but I'm too dang tired...so goodnight, wake me up to lots of reviews :) I love waking up to reviews, it's awesome.