Three more chapters after this one! This was another chapter I was a little uncertain about. I know that you are more than ready for a chapter full of Caryl and I promise that tomorrow, you will get a lot of it. I just needed to get this one out there first. Another AN after the chapter. =)
Chapter Seventy Six
Sophia was relieved when Daryl finally showed up. She had been waiting for a while. They told her that she could go but she had to have a parent to sign some of the paperwork and Daryl had been with her mom for the last hour. He didn't meet her eyes when he came in to tell her that they could go. He looked miserable and she felt bad for him. He had had a very long night so far and it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
"I'm stayin' here tonight," he said after a nurse handed him a clipboard with some papers that he glanced over and signed. "I don't want you home alone so I'm takin' you to Buck's. Piper's there, probably pacing a hole in the floor."
"Okay," she said, waiting for him to finally look up at her. When he did she almost had to look away.
"I know it probably don't make shit any better, it can't, but I'm so fuckin' sorry, kid," he muttered, finally meeting her eyes.
She frowned. "What? Sorry for what? You saved me."
He shook his head and held the door open for her, ushering her out. "If it wasn't for me that wouldn't have happened to begin with." He sounded so defeated that she wanted to cry.
"Daryl," she said, keeping her voice soft as she grabbed his wrist to stop him from walking out into the parking lot.
He stopped but he didn't look at her.
"Please don't think I'd ever blame you for what happened. It happened because the world is full of bad people. You came and got me out of there. You got hurt in the process. What happened wasn't your fault. The only reason I didn't piss myself back there was because I knew you'd come for me."
He shook his head and she didn't know what else to do so she she hugged him. He hugged her back, letting go of a shuddering breath. They stood like that for a few long moments and he finally pulled away. "I need to get you to Buck's and get back here."
She nodded and they stepped out from under the awning only to stop in their tracks. Damon's car was illegally parked and he was sitting on the trunk, elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. He hadn't seen them. She looked up at Daryl, her eyes pleading.
He blew out a breath. "I guess I can let Damon take you. I should get back in there. You can see the baby and your mama in the mornin'. Right now he's in some sort of incubator and she's stoned off her ass."
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" She asked worriedly. He really did look like he was about to snap.
He snorted. "Leave it to you to ask me somethin' like that after what you went through tonight. Just like your mom. I'm fine. We're all fine."
She kissed his cheek quickly and then squeezed his hand. "I love you. I'll bring you breakfast."
He nodded. "I love you too, kid." He looked up at where Damon was still sitting and then back down at her. "Be good," he said, a clear warning in his voice.
She offered him a weak smile and then let go of his hand. When she glanced over her shoulder he was already heading back inside. She still had a slight headache but they had given her something for the pain. She hadn't had to get stitches, which she was grateful. Not only did she hate the thought of a needle threading through her skin but they would have had to shave part of her head and she was vain enough to not want to go through that. Instead they used some kind of glue, which was holding the gash together.
She was just a few feet away from him when his head came up. He blinked in surprise and then slid off the car, closing the distance and not giving her a chance to say anything before his arms were around her, crushing her against him. She could barely breath but she didn't care. She could feel his hands shaking as he gripped her by the waist and pulled her back slightly.
"I was about to come in. I didn't know they'd let you leave this quick," he said in a rough voice.
"I'm fine. It wasn't even as bad as they thought at first," she said, studying his face. He looked different somehow. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "I am now. I'm stayin' with you tonight. My old man already knows."
"Good," she said, relieved. She let him pull her around the side of the car. When he was finally behind the wheel she noticed that he was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. "Did something happen?" She asked after a long silence.
He glanced at her, swallowed hard and then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, something happened."
He didn't offer to elaborate and she didn't press him for more information. He would talk to her when he was ready. She wasn't really in the mood to talk much herself so she understood. They had both been through a lot today.
When they pulled up at the house Piper was out the door and hurrying towards them. Sophia was surprised to see June come out the door, wrapping a cardigan around her shoulders. Sophia was a little taken aback when Piper hugged her.
"Jesus Christ! What the fuck happened? Nobody would tell me shit!" She pulled away and then glanced at Damon. "Are you two okay?"
Sophia nodded and the three of them made their way to the porch. June grabbed her then, pulling her into another hug.
"I wanted to wait for you two before I went to the hospital. Are you okay?" She asked, her hands lingering on Sophia's cheeks as she looked her over. Her dark eyes slid over to her son. "You stay here tonight," she said firmly. "Buck will be here soon but I don't want these girls alone for even a minute."
He nodded, not saying anything. June moved on and reached up, touching Damon's face lightly before her eyes filled with tears and she pulled her hand away. "Oh, Damon," she said, her voice so soft Sophia barely heard it.
He shook his head and looked down. "I didn't have a choice, mom." His voice was heartbreaking. Sophia didn't understand what was going on but apparently a mother's intuition was a very powerful thing because it was obvious that June was reading something in his eyes that Sophia hadn't grasped yet.
June nodded, covering her mouth with her hand before a sob escaped her. Damon grabbed her then, pulling her into him and hugging her tightly. She pulled away, wiping her face quickly and nodding. "I need to go. You guys get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."
Sophia watched her get into her car and drive away. She followed Damon and Piper into the house.
"You two can probably get away with taking Daryl's room for the night. I cleaned it and stuff so it should be alright. I'm fuckin' beat. You two look like warmed up death but I want some fucking details in the morning."
Sophia nodded and then watched her walk away. Damon took her hand and led her down the hall. She didn't even notice that he was carrying a bag with him until he handed it to her after shutting the bedroom door.
"I stopped by your place and picked you up some clothes. I didn't know how long you'd be in there so I didn't get you anything to sleep in," he said in that rough voice that, for some reason, caused a dull pain in her chest.
"What happened, Damon?" She asked, taking the bag but not making a move to go to the bathroom to change.
He shook his head. "Just go change. We can talk about it later."
She watched as he sat down on the edge of the bed. She went into the bathroom and hurriedly changed. He had grabbed her a t-shirt from her closet that she rarely ever wore because it was a size too big and considering the night they had had she didn't think it would distract him too much if she just slept in that and not the jeans he'd packed for her. She wasn't as embarrassed about things like this as she had been before.
When she came back out he was still sitting there, looking down at his boots. She was worried about him. She had known, after they had found her, that he would be in some sort of mood but she hadn't been expecting this. He looked as though he were having an inner battle of some kind and she hated that she didn't seem to be able to do anything to help him. She stepped right into his space and pushed his head back so he was forced to look at her.
Instantly he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into the V of his legs. He looked up at her, meeting her eyes. "Ed's dead."
She froze there, her hands on his shoulders, and waited to feel something. She was surprised that what she felt was guilt. Not because Ed was dead either. She felt guilt because she knew that opening her mouth, that telling Damon that Ed had been involved, had caused him to do this. "Damon, I'm so sorry. I didn't tell you about him because I wanted..."
He shook his head. "Killin' ain't as easy as Daryl said it was, but I'm glad he's gone. You have no idea what I thought was happenin' to you in there. I didn't know what we'd find. I thought..." his eyes went hard and his jaw clenched.
She pushed his hair back from his face, "Stop," she said, her voice low but strong. "Nothing happened. Nothing like that. I got hit in the head and I got slapped in the face. That's it. You and Daryl got there before anything else could happen. The only thing we can do now is move past it because if you just dwell on it then you're gonna be miserable. But I am sorry you thought you had to do what you did. You didn't have to do that."
He sighed and pulled her closer as her fingers played through his hair. "None of us have to do anything. But how long would it take him to find another group of bad men willing to do something sick, just to get back at you and your mom? I don't wanna spend the next ten fuckin' years wondering what's coming at us."
She smiled, almost surprised that she could after everything that had happened tonight. "Ten years, huh? When I met you you didn't strike me as the long term relationship type of guy."
He shrugged and looked up at her, a little bit of that anguish leaving his eyes. "I figure we're kind of stuck with each other regardless. If I ain't your boyfriend, I'm still your cousin. Might as well put in the effort to make this work where I get some kind of benefits for putting up with you."
He had jokes and she was more than grateful. She didn't want to think about what happened tonight. She wanted to think about something else. Something good. But it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy because while she was in that room she had been terrified that she would never see him again. Sure, she was afraid of what was going to happen to her but the worst thing of all was knowing that she was going to be taken away from him. She knew how stupid that was. She knew she was just a teenager that had a whole lot of life left to live and feeling so deeply about a boy was stupid, but she couldn't turn it off. There wasn't a switch.
He had killed a man for her tonight. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to make sure she was safe. He would sacrifice himself if it meant that she would be okay. That wasn't something that your average teenage boy would do for a girl. This wasn't some kind of fling. This wasn't some high school romance gone rogue. This, whatever it was between them, was just as real as what her mom had with Daryl. This was just as real as what his own parents had. And she had came so close to losing him. Much to close.
"I love you," she said quickly. He needed to hear it because if something really had happened to her tonight, it would have been awful to know he never really knew how she felt.
His eyes widened slightly and then he grinned. It lit up his face. "I love you too." She held his gaze until the smile dissolved on his face, replaced by a look she knew well before he shook his head, clearing his throat. "You gotta be worn out. Headache. Let's get some sleep alright? It's gonna be daylight in a few hours." He scooted back until he was stretched out on top of the covers.
She crawled in next to him. "You think Daryl will kill us if he finds out we shared his bed?" She asked.
He snorted. "Yeah. It's weird. He used to be just one of us guys and now he watches me like I'm the devil incarnate out to seduce his little girl." He rolled, pulling her closer but was careful not to touch the back of her head.
She was hoping that she could sleep without dreams but she wasn't that lucky. She had simply been through too much in too little time and there were fears that her mind refused to let go of until they vividly replayed in startling clarity in the form of grotesque nightmares. She jerked awake, her face wet and feeling as though she were suffocating.
Instantly Damon's arm tightened around her and he raised up on his elbow. Her arms instantly wound around his neck and she held on to him so tightly that she would have been surprised if he could breath.
"You're alright," he muttered, shifting as she pulled him closer. He had no choice but to climb almost on top of her. He grunted.
"I don't want to go back to sleep," she muttered once she finally let go of him. She wanted those images gone from her mind and the only way that was going to happen was if she focused on something else.
"You need to. We ain't been asleep for an hour."
She shook her head and then pulled his face down to hers. She couldn't stop thinking about all of the bad people out there. People that were only out to hurt others and she kissed him more forcefully. He wasn't one of those people. He was one of the best people she had ever known. He always put her before himself. Was always patient with her. Never tried to make her feel like she wasn't enough. As a matter of fact he went above and beyond to make her happy.
"Sophia," he muttered, pulling back.
"What?" She asked, her voice sounding off.
He shook his head and tried to move away from her but that wasn't happening. Not tonight. After everything they had been through, she wasn't wasting another minute with him. Her arms tightened around his neck again and she pulled him back down. He was stronger than her. Much stronger. But he let her get her way. She started tugging his shirt up and he leaned up long enough to strip it the rest of the way off. It was when she went for her own that his large hand wrapped around her wrists and he pushed her hands above her head.
"What the hell are you doin'?" He growled.
"I want you," she muttered.
He shook his head firmly. "Nah, that ain't how this works. I take off my shirt but yours stays on. We ain't doin' that. Not now."
"I want to," she said as she maneuvered herself under him.
"You only think that because of all the shit that happened tonight," he argued.
"I want to because at this moment I could be out of my mind on drugs and bought by a fourth man right now." She felt him tense above her and could imagine the look in his eyes. "But instead I'm in bed with a boy that loves me, and is actually trying to talk me out of finally having sex with him."
"Sophia," he grumbled still moving away.
"I'm on the pill," she said quickly. Her and Piper had both gone and gotten put on birth control more than a month ago. She had known that it would happen eventually and she wanted to be prepared when it happened.
He stilled, no longer trying to get away from her. She felt him relax further into her and then he cursed under his breath as his lips met hers. He had at least put up a fight, and she loved him even more for it, but there was only so much fight he had in him.
"Daryl's gonna fuckin' kill me if he finds out," he whispered as he carefully pushed her shirt up.
"Please don't talk about my parents right now," she breathed when his lips ghosted across her collar bone. She was scared. Scared to death, but it was a different kind of fear than she had felt earlier.
"I think I can manage that," he whispered as his hands encased her ribs and his head drifted lower.
I can't write Daphia smut. Lol I know that a few of you have messaged me and mentioned it and even though I've written Caryl stories where they are this young, I can't stop picturing Sophia in that damn blue rainbow shirt with that doll in her hands every time I write her and Damon like this. It just weirds me out. So, I had no choice but to do a fade to black for this one.