Chapter Forty Four
Daryl was surprised how many people were already there. Hell, he hadn't officially been out for an hour. He hadn't let anyone know until forty minutes ago. But here they were, making their way through throngs of well wishers and back patters. He was surprised at how many of them Carol knew by name.
He pulled her through the crowds until he found a spot where he would actually be able to talk to her but then he noticed Buck coming towards them. Seeing his dad had him grinning until he nearly crushed the life out of him. He almost didn't mind but he couldn't breath. When he finally let go Buck's eyes went to Carol and he bent down, kissing her right on the mouth. Daryl was shocked when Buck regarded her with that same look that came over his face when he looked at Piper.
"How you feelin'?" Buck asked her.
She nodded. "Good. Better than good now," she smiled.
Daryl hadn't expected to get hit again but suddenly Buck whacked him in the side of the head. "Next time you better let me know when the hell you're getting out," he growled.
Daryl rubbed the side of his head. "Goddamn it, why do people keep hittin' me? And there ain't gonna be a next time."
Buck nodded stiffly. "I better get back and man the grill. Odin will burn every damn thing. We're gonna be havin' a talk later, you hear me?"
Daryl shrugged. "If you can find me."
Daryl was about to ask Carol something but suddenly he was getting slammed in the chest. He looked down at the top of a red head and grinned, letting go of Carol's hand long enough to hug the little shit. Once she let go of him she slapped him in the stomach.
"Don't you ever pull this shit again!" She shrieked. "You could have at least told me you were getting out today. You tell me everything you asshole!"
He sighed. "You too? I swear I need to put a fuckin' sign on my back that says punching bag."
"You deserved it. I wrote your sorry ass every other day. What do I get for my efforts? Left in the dark."
"Okay, I'm sorry."
She looked satisfied and stepped away, giving Damon his turn to squeeze the life out of him. At least the boy didn't hit him. "Glad you're back, man. It hasn't been the same without you."
Daryl nodded and then glanced down at Sophia. She smiled and waved and then surprised him when she actually hugged him. She didn't say anything, or hit him, so that was a good sign.
He finally was able to drag Carol through the doors. He made his way to the bar where a beer was already set out for him. He took it gratefully and then nodded towards the one that was set down in front of Carol. "Drink up. You're gonna need it by the end of the night."
She smiled and shook her head. "I can handle it sober."
He tugged her a little closer and dipped his head like he was going to kiss her but he stopped. "You gonna slap me again if I kiss you?"
She grinned and pulled his face towards hers. When he pulled back he couldn't help but glance down at the oversized shirt she was wearing.
"What's up with wearin' my clothes?" He raised a brow at her. "Cant even tell what's under there."
She swallowed and her eyes suddenly grew serious. "I just like them."
He shrugged. "Okay. Nothin' wrong with that." He sat down on the stool but she was still standing, glancing around at all of the people. When she turned to look at him she seemed nervous.
"I need to talk to you about something soon. I should have talked to you about it before now but I didn't want to say anything while you were in jail. It just didn't seem right."
Instantly his mind started seeking out the worst case scenarios but she smiled and shook her head. "Stop worrying about it. This is a celebration. I don't want you stressing about anything. And do you realize that you're sitting in the exact same spot that you were sitting in when all this first started?" She smiled.
He grinned, despite how nervous he was. "Does that mean you'll end up in my room up there tonight?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna end up wherever you end up and you know it."
He grinned and stood up, unable to sit for very long. He felt like that's all he had done these past months. "Could go back to your place," he raised an eyebrow.
She blew out a breath. "Don't start with me about that. I hear enough from Buck and Merle every damn day."
He sighed. "I'll wear you down eventually."
"I hate the place. I really do, but it's nice being able to say that it's mine. Sure, it's crappy, but I pay for it myself."
He didn't like hearing that she still hadn't planned on moving out of the apartment but he had time to work on her.
"We can fight about all that later," she said quickly, guessing his thoughts. "I'll be right back." She reached up, kissing him quickly and then pulled away. She was about to walk away but he grabbed her hand. "Where the hell are you goin'?"
"The bathroom," she said, raising a brow.
He jerked his thumb towards the back. "The bathroom's that way."
She made a face. "I'm not using that one. I use Buck's when I'm here."
His eyes grew wide. "Nobody's allowed to use that bathroom."
"Well, I'm not everyone," she said with a false air of haughtiness in her voice.
"What the hell kinda spell have you put on my family woman?" He asked, throwing his arm over her shoulder and walking towards the room that Buck spent most of his time in. This room was where hard decisions were made. As he waited on her he stood in front of the pictures that lined the wall, one in particular catching his eye. It was one of Buck and his mom, standing in this very room. He had seen the photo thousands of times throughout his life but over the years it had become one of those things. Those things that you seen so much throughout your life that you stopped seeing it altogether. He had looked at it over the years but he had never really seen it.
His mom was looking at the camera but Buck was looking at her. Daryl looked a lot like her. Merle favored Buck. The only thing Daryl got from Buck were his eyes. His mom's eyes were a soft brown. Memories of her stirred up, rolling through his mind like ghosts, without much substance. It had been years since he had really thought about the impact her loss had had on him. He was always preoccupied, not stopping long enough to really think about her or what could have been. He imagined Buck spent a lot of time thinking about her. She had been warm, loving, always concerned about those around her. She was always patient with him and Merle. He smiled when he realized that Carol was a lot like her, in a lot of ways.
"Hey."
He turned his head as she came towards him, a worried look on her face. "Hey," he muttered.
"Are you okay?" She asked, her brows coming together forming a frown.
He nodded and looked back at the photo. "Yeah. I'm good."
She stopped next to him, studying the picture carefully. "Buck almost looks the same."
Daryl smiled, his eyes still on his mom. "Yeah, don't know how he ended up snaggin' my mom. They were too different. Nobody thought it would last."
"How were they so different?" She asked, staring at the photo.
"Bout like Odin and June. Like me and you." His voice was quiet.
"I don't think it matters. I don't think people have very much power over what their heart wants. It trumps everything else. Common sense especially."
"Common sense tell you to tuck tail and run as far away from me as you could get?" He asked, only half joking.
To his surprise he saw her nodding out of the corner of his eye. He was still staring at the picture of his mom. "Yes. But I couldn't do it."
He didn't say anything. Instead he did something that he had done several times during their brief time together. He pulled her until she was in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist. And that was when it happened. He could have sworn that his mother's smile grew just a little. Her eyes were now knowing, like she knew the thoughts rushing through his mind. Carol stiffened in his arms as he grew very still. He didn't even breath. The room seemed to sway as all the tumblers seemed to fall into place in his mind. Her inexplicable and sudden sickness. The fragility of her emotional state. The odd behavior that Merle had told him about. Her need to wear his shirts that were much too big for her.
Maybe he didn't know her like his brother did now. Maybe he didn't know her favorite food or the type of movies she liked best. Maybe he didn't know her favorite type of music or what books she liked to read. But what he knew, knew like the back of his hand, was her body. He had mapped it out many times. He knew every soft curve, every flat plain.
With his mother watching him he shakily slipped his hand under the front of the shirt, over the obvious bump where her belly had once been flat. Her skin was hot under his touch and she was so still she could have been made of warm stone. His heart thumped hard and fast in his chest and he knew she could feel it. He flattened his hand over her stomach, exploring the smooth roundness there and finally sucked in some much needed air.
"I was going to tell you as soon as you got out. I didn't want you finding out in jail and I didn't want you knowing at all if you were going to go to prison."
He didn't say anything. Her words confirmed what he already knew. She was pregnant. It was his. Somewhere under his hand his own kid was forming, growing... His throat felt thick. His mother watched him, somehow a part of this moment.
"It happened quick, maybe the first time. I didn't know until after you were already in jail..."
Through the chaos in his head a thought occurred to him and he scowled. Leave it to him to conceive a baby against the wall in a dirty garage. He still couldn't get his mind to fully wrap around the idea, no matter how obvious. A small part of him wanted to bolt from the room. He wanted to climb up onto the roof and get so fucking fried that he wouldn't have to think about what this meant.
But that was a very small part of him and those thoughts were brief. His thoughts started growing very calm, like his brain knew he needed some kind of endorphin to help him deal with this. He continued to run his hand over her.
"Please say something, even if I don't want to hear it," she whispered.
"Are you okay with this?" He whispered back.
"Yes," she said, no doubt shading her voice. "I'm more than okay with this. I've been okay with this from the start."
"Did you know it could happen? I mean, I wasn't the most responsible guy but I just thought you were on the pill or somethin'."
She shook her head. "I've been on the shot for years but I missed it. I didn't know I missed it. Not until I got a call telling me that I had missed it. And I want you to know that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I don't expect anything from you."
"What?" He couldn't hide the disbelief in his voice.
She turned then so his hand was now pressed against her back. "I don't want you to think that I planned this to trap you or anything."
"Carol if you were gonna do somethin' like this to trap somebody you'd find a better catch than me."
She scowled. "Don't talk like that."
He felt like he needed to sit down but he was hesitant to let her go. "Who knows about it?"
She shook her head. "Just me. I think June knows too but she hasn't said anything. You know how she is."
He nodded. "Buck, Sophia... Merle?"
"I wasn't going to tell anyone until I told you."
"What is it?"
"I don't know yet. Are you sure you're okay? You look like you're gonna pass out. Or puke."
"Will you move in with me?"
She blinked in surprise. "Into the garage? Me, you, Sophia and a new baby sharing a room? Daryl, really. And I'm not taking anything else from Buck."
"The house," he said, feeling light headed.
She frowned. "I already told you that I'm not moving in with Buck. That's too many people and I'm not-"
He shook his head. "No. The house. The house was for you. It was always for you. The house was for you before I even went to jail. I just didn't get a chance to say anything. That's why he had you do everything."
"What?" She gaped. "What house?"
He nodded towards the picture. "My mama's house. The one you said you've been working on."
She shook her head. "I can't..."
"Why?" He was starting to panic. Had she been so willing to let him off the hook because she didn't want to actually be with him? Did she think that he could go back to just casually fucking her when she was pregnant with his kid? What the hell was wrong with this woman?
"It's too much, Daryl."
"You're havin' my fuckin' baby! You think I'm gonna let you raise it by yourself in some shitty apartment?"
"What!"
They both turned towards the door where Merle and Buck were standing, wide eyed. Carol ran her hand through her hair nervously. Buck and Merle stepped inside, followed by Sophia, Damon and Piper. Merle shut the door and turned to look at them. His eyes went to Carol. "What the hell did he just say?" Merle was pissed.
The door opened again and Randy, June and Odin came in. "Hey, you guys. The food is- What's wrong?" June asked, looking from face to face. "Oh. And the cat is finally out of the bag."
Daryl shook his head. "Couldn't you all have given me five more minutes? Goddamn!"
Piper made a face. "What the hell is going on?"
Carol groaned but Daryl was done. "She's knocked up, it's my kid and she wants to raise it in that shitty apartment of hers."
"I never said that!"
"You're knocked up!" Merle barked. "And it never occurred to you to tell me that? You looked me right in the goddamn eye and you lied to me after everything?"
Daryl went on the defensive then. "It ain't yours so why would she tell you?"
Merle glared. "As far as the last few months go it is too mine. I'm the one been takin' care of her and it both! You ain't got the slightest clue what the fuck I've gone through with her!"
"You fucker! That wasn't my fault!"
Merle threw his hands up. "It wasn't your fault that you did somethin' stupid and got locked up?"
"That's low, even for you. You know where my head was right before they locked me up. I was workin' on straightening my shit up." Daryl growled.
"Yeah you keep tellin' yourself that but me and you both know where your head really was. It was right up your ass where it's always been. You got in trouble cause you did what you always do and just like all the other times, I picked up the slack. I took care of what you couldn't. I was the one she called. I was the one that kept her goin'. Sure, you did your part and got her pregnant but I'm the one that's been stuck playin' daddy to a kid I didn't even know existed and that's why I should have fuckin' known." He was yelling now and Daryl knew he had every right to but it didn't make it any easier to hear.
Daryl took a few steps towards him but Carol grabbed his arm, stopping him. "That's enough. You two are acting like babies yourself."
Sophia looked between them then. "You're pregnant?" To Daryl's relief she didn't look unhappy about the idea.
Carol opened her mouth to say something but Piper cut her off.
"That's great cause so is Sophia," she grinned.
The room grew very quiet as everyone turned their heads slowly to stare at Sophia and Damon. Both looked like they had been punched in the gut.
Piper raised her hands. "Man, I was kidding. You guys are too intense."
Everyone in the room seemed to breath a sigh of relief as they glared at the girl.