Daryl stretched and released a content little moan. He smiled with closed eyes, when he heard Bay giggling right next to him.
"I swear, sometimes you are just like a cat." she said smilingly when she watched his buck naked body stretched out on the sofa bed, exactly in the spot where the sun shone in through the window, hitting him full force.
"Ya like cats, don't ya?"
"Yep. They are so feeeeeral." Bay giggled, making a little fun of him again for always pronouncing feral differently. "Oooow!" she jumped, when Daryl pinched her butt.
"That's what bein' mouthy gets ya."
"Meanie." she laughed and poked his ribs.
"Look who's talking." he grinned and turned his head to the side so that he would be able to kiss her. Bay sighed against his lips and snuggled closer to him, because she was laying in the shade and was actually getting a bit cold. Daryl put his arm around her and pulled her closer, only too gladly playing radiator for her. "Better?"
"Mhm." she nodded and rested her cheek against his chest, while her fingertips gently played along his treasure trail. She looked at his flaccid penis, thinking that it was a rare sight to see it in this state. Daryl was a healthy, red-blooded, 20 year old male with a willing girlfriend; pretty much every time they were naked, his thingy stood up stiff and proud, like the tip and his belly button were magnets and kept gravitating towards one another.
Her hand slid lower, brushing her fingertips through his coarse pubic hair. She grinned silently when she felt him inhale deeply, but for now, she had no intention on getting her hand on his cock. She got comfortable and played with his bush, swirling her fingers around, gently tugging at the hair and scratching at the skin right at the base of his cock. By now, he was no longer flaccid and Bay's knuckles kept brushing against his hard length.
She heard some rumbling in his chest, which made her giggle again. She had him purring like a cat now, too. "Can we stay like this forever? I never want to leave this bed again." she murmured quietly, while Daryl softly tickled her bare shoulder with his fingertips.
"Only 'til Monday and we gotta go to work. Maybe we oughta start playin' the lottery, so we can win and get waiters and cooks and shit and only have to leave the bed when we gotta do bathroom stuff."
"That sounds like heaven right now."
"Don't it? But shit, I'd miss yer cookin', baby girl. Would ya still cook for me if we were filthy rich?"
"Of course I would. Anything for you, Daryl. Anything... You know, I always used to think that it was cheesy when someone said that all they wanted was for their partners to be happy? But now I'd literally do anything to make you happy."
"Yeah... same for me, Bay. Gonna marry ya one day, ya know?" he said, and Bay released a little laugh, because he had said it like she didn't have a say in it. Like it was a done deal already. "Every day, Imma try ma best to be a good husband... give ya everythin'..."
"I love you." She didn't say it often, because the words didn't come easy to her after having lost everyone she had loved, but when he was so sweet and genuine, she just had to let him know and tell him out loud.
"Love ya, baby girl." he shifted and rolled on top of her, covering her with his body completely, while he kissed her sweetly. "Forever."
Daryl didn't know why he was remembering that particular Saturday afternoon right now. Maybe because he had felt especially warm and content that day. Maybe because he desperately wanted to take Bay and go back there right the fuck now. He desperately wanted to feel like that again. That stupid dream had shaken him to the core, and he was anxious as hell, which made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He knew from experience what losing her felt like, he'd felt it again in that dream, and now he was scared that it would really happen again. That he would have to go through that horrific pain once more. Even though they lived in constant danger, sometimes, when there had been a couple of good days in a row, it was ridiculously easy to forget, how fast people died in this world. One scratch was all it took. He wouldn't be able to take it. Not again.
"Jesus, Daryl. What exactly did happen in that nightmare you had?" Bay had tried to push Daryl off of her for the third time, but he still wouldn't budge. Instead he kept himself on top and wrapped around her, kissing her skin wherever he was able to reach. It had been almost half an hour, since he'd cum inside of her, after taking her ferociously, giving it to her good, because he hadn't been able to get enough of hearing her and feeling her alive and squirming underneath him.
"You died." he mumbled against her skin while he shuddered. "Got stuck in 'em tombs with Dale. Rick found ya, and ya fucking ate his face. Dreamed the whole damn thing; The boy getting' cocky and followin' you and Dale, unlocking a room full of walkers... lookin' for ya, not bein' able to find ya, your funeral,... Rick findin' ya and you bitin' him... Was too damn real..."
"That is creepy." she crawled her fingers through his hair and sighed. "But as much as I enjoy this, we have to get down there. Can't stay in bed while everybody else is working to secure this thing and make it our new home."
"I know, but promise me that ya ain't gon' leave my side today."
Bay kissed him gently, trying to soothe his still frazzled nerves, but she realized that it was a lesson in futility today. "We have work to do, baby. I understand you are worried, but you don't have to look after me like a child."
"That ain't what this is about, Bay, and ya know it. Just for today. Okay? Shit,... please, baby girl. That fucking nightmare was hell. Just stay where I can see ya today."
"Okay. I will, but now we really have to get going."
Daryl reluctantly rolled off of her and let her get dressed, while he pulled his pants up and shrugged on his sleeveless shirt. They kissed one last time, before they left their cell and went downstairs to the commons, where everyone was still gathered for breakfast. They were both grabbing themselves a bowl of oatmeal, which Carol had cooked up, when Rick approached them. "A word..." he motioned towards the door that led outside, not giving them the chance to sit down. Rick led the way outside and once the door was closed, the former cop sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look... I don't wanna get on your case about this,... I know that we all can get carried away sometimes, especially when we make up after a fight, but if you could be a little more discreet in the future. Especially when the kids are awake... Erin and Pat had to deal with some interesting questions earlier..."
Daryl blushed furiously, and he quickly lowered his head, while Bay cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Oh, uuummm... I'm sorry, Rick." she was blushing as well, but she was way less embarrassed than Daryl was. "It won't happen again, I promise. We are already looking into finding a more secluded, but safe spot for the couples among us, so the kids won't have to witness anything."
"Good." Rick was satisfied by that. "Until then, just keep quiet or keep from doing it altogether, I don't care, just... Keep it down. I hate doing this, especially after everything you're doing for the group and for Lori right now, getting all those things we'll need for the birth and for taking care of her until then-"
"It's okay, Rick. We understand perfectly. Usually we're more mindful of these things, but like you said... after the fight we got carried away. And we're sorry. We'll apologize to Pat and Erin as well, don't worry." Bay quickly reassured him.
"Alright." Rick gave them another nod, before he headed back inside. Daryl and Bay stayed behind for a moment, and Bay laughed a little, when Daryl covered his eyes with his hand in embarrassment.
"Fuck."
"He'll live. And so will we. I don't think Pat and Erin will be mad at all." Bay laughed.
"Prolly not. Still fucking embarrassing as shit."
"I know. Just more motivation for us to find some of the offices around here and secure them and the way leading to them."
"Yeah. Gonna keep our eyes open for them today." Daryl agreed.
"We will, yeah. Now let's get back inside. I'm hungry." Bay said as she turned back towards the door and opened it.
They went back inside and got their breakfast bowls, then they sat down at the table, where Pat and Erin were holding hands and talking quietly. As soon as Daryl and Bay arrived, they perked up, though. "Well, hello... Didn't hear you come in, Mr. and Mrs. Morning Make Up Sex." Pat grinned cheekily, making Daryl blush once more.
"Shut the hell up, man." he grumbled before he quickly stuffed his mouth with the stale oatmeal.
"Take your own advice." Pat shot back with a laugh. "Never wanted to hear your caveman sex noises."
Erin slapped Pat's arm. "Leave him alone, babe. You don't sound any different." She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Better put that tongue back in your mouth or Imma bite it."
"Promises, promises." Erin sighed with a smile and winked at her boyfriend.
Bay cleared her throat and smiled apologetically. "Well, we're sorry that Alex heard us and apparently had questions?"
"He was concerned for you." Erin explained. "He thought Daryl was slapping and hurting you."
"Oh good God... what did you say?" Bay was afraid that maybe Alex would get scared of Daryl now. She didn't want that to happen at all. She was sure that Daryl would seriously take that to heart.
Pat shrugged. "We told him that Daryl wasn't hurting you at all. That y'all were playing a game for grown ups, which he was still too young to understand and that it included a lot of high five's. Oh and that he didn't have to worry about anything, of course."
"High five's?" Bay laughed incredulously.
"Yeah, I know." Pat smirked. "Had to think fast and it was the only thing I came up with that explained the slapping."
"Jesus..." Daryl groaned quietly into his bowl.
"Should have told him the truth, maybe." Pat mused out loud. "If Carl knows 'bout sex, he's gonna tell Alex all about what you guys did anyway, with lots of bullshit mixed in, I'm sure."
"Pat! Alex is too young to hear about sex from us." Erin said with a frown. Having her baby know all about sex at age 6 was not something she was okay with.
"Oh, so you'd rather have Carl fill his head with all kinds of bullshit about sex, instead of having us tell him the actual facts?" Pat raised his eyebrow at his girlfriend.
"Stop. He's too young, end of discussion. Carl was, what? 10 years old when the outbreak hit? He probably has no idea what he heard, either." Erin argued, before Bay interrupted what seemed to be leading to a heated discussion between the couple.
"We have to make sure that the kids don't hear anything again. We were thinking that there have to be some offices around here, with a door you can close and actually lock, you know? We want to try to find them, so we all have a spot to go to, when we want to... give each other high five's." Bay laughed.
"I'd like to see what you would have come up with... once you would have been done blushing, of course." Pat joked with a wink.
"I don't know. Maybe that we played the adult version of 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands?' Thank God I won't ever have to have that talk." She was smiling, but Daryl, Erin and Pat weren't, because they collectively remembered the miscarriage. Bay soon noticed and was tempted to roll her eyes, but then she chose to ignore the sad looks. "Anyway, let's see what Rick wants to get done today." And with that, she got up and left the table.
"Do you guys talk about it?" Erin wanted to know from Daryl.
"Nah. Not really." Daryl shook his head. "She gets all huffy when I bring it up. Says it's been too long ago to still be talking about it and that it was better that it died."
"That's crazy talk." Erin frowned. "And even if it happened a decade ago, you found out just now and need a chance to work through it with her. She might have lost the baby years ago, but you lost it only recently."
Daryl shrugged. "Ain't nothin' gonna bring it back, so..." he didn't know what to say, so he got up as well and followed Bay, leaving Pat and Erin to themselves.
"He's hurting over it." Erin murmured with sadness in her voice. "It's in his eyes."
"It's between them, babe." Pat kissed her temple gently. "Stay out of it. Nothin' good ever comes out of meddlin' with those things." Then he got up and followed Bay and Daryl, to go find Rick and ask what the plan was for today.
Daryl was torn and needed a couple of minutes to think. Rick wanted to keep working on securing the tombs and the fences and all that stuff, but now that they had enough "man"-power, he didn't want the women (namely Maggie and Bay) to go back into the tombs. He wanted to keep them as safe as possible, which was why he had asked both women to help out Hershel as he prepared the ground for farming. After all, they had both helped him out on the farm for years. They were a team and Rick thought that it was the task best suited for the Greenes. Daryl was inclined to agree, if the whole thing wouldn't keep him away from Bay for pretty much the rest of the day. He still felt jittery and leaving her alone hadn't been the plan at all for today.
"Maybe I should stay back, too. Help the old man out. The faster we can start plantin' shit, the better." Daryl told Rick, lowering his gaze repeatedly while he talked to the group leader, because he felt unsure of himself.
Rick frowned and turned fully towards Daryl, lowering his head and trying to catch the hunter's gaze. "I need you." he told Daryl in his imploring manner. "I need my best man on this."
Daryl almost blushed at the unexpected compliment, but his current predicament kept him from doing so. "Ya did it without me before. When we went to raid the doctors offices..."
"But today you're here." he stared at Daryl for a moment, before he motioned for Daryl to walk with him. "What's going on, Daryl? No doubt that this is about Bay, but why?"
"Just wanna make sure she's safe." Daryl tried to be casual about it, but Rick wasn't stupid. He knew that something was different than usual.
"She can handle herself, Daryl. You know that. You taught her. Hershel, Dale and Glenn are going to be here, too. She'll be alright. You trusted that before, why not now?" When Daryl didn't reply, Rick kept going. "She's safer out here than she is in there. Fences are closed, perimeter is secure, but we never know what's waiting in there. And we need to push forward, we need to explore this whole thing and make it safe. That's something every single one of us will profit from. I need you, Daryl. Let them do their thing and we do ours. So, we gonna do this?"
Daryl looked at the ground while he chewed on the inside of his bottom lip, pondering what do to now. Rick grew impatient and started shifting his weight, while he put his right hand on his Python, which was resting in its holster. Eventually Daryl nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it. Just gimme a minute to tell her."
"Don't take too long." Rick said and went back to the others.
"We need to find some of these big plastic barrels." Bay was standing between Maggie and Hershel as they looked out over the field and planned their first steps. "Store some water and gather some when it rains. Schlepping a hundred buckets of water in through the fences every day is not gonna work for long. Too tedious. Especially when we planted all the crops. We need to get a system working."
Hershel nodded his agreement. "I will take another look around, see how we might make it work. I'll make a plan and a list of the parts we will be needing. It's a good thing that you and Daryl are from around here. He might know where to find certain parts."
Maggie smiled. "Speaking of the devil."
"Bay." Daryl called out for her when he was close enough.
"I'll be right back." She told Hershel and Maggie, and took a couple of steps towards Daryl. "Hey."
"Gonna go with Rick."
"Yeah, I figured."
"Don't like it." he sighed while he squinted and looked around, checking the situation at the fences with a quick glance.
"Daryl... I know it was a really bad dream, but that's all it was... just a dream. Do we live in a dangerous and screwed up world? Yes, most certainly, but we're as careful as we possibly can be. That's all we can do. You can't watch me 24/7 like a child. We have jobs to do, so it's simply not possible for us to be together the whole time. I'll be fine. Trust me like I trust you to be safe and come back to me in one piece."
Daryl nodded lightly and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her to him for a long, hard kiss. "I trust ya, Bay, but things happen fast. Be safe, alright?"
"You, too. I love you."
"Love you." he kissed her again. And again. Then he looked at her for a moment longer, looking like he was changing his mind about helping Rick after all, but then finally, he released her and quickly turned around and walked away.
Bay hadn't told him and she had tried not to let it show, but she was worried about him as well. The tombs were unpredictable. All these dark hallways where walkers could still be hidden. It was a deathtrap until they would be able to fully secure it, but in order to secure it, the men had to risk their lives going in there. Erin was a nervous mess as well. Bay watched her literally biting her nails after she had kissed Pat goodbye. It was the same for all the women. Their kiss goodbye could be the proverbial last kiss. They tried not to think about it, but it was still there, nagging every single member of the group in the far corners of their minds. At least they all had tasks to do, which would distract them for a while. Thank God for small favors, Bay thought as she rubbed her cross between her thumb and index finger, before she re-joined Maggie and Hershel for more planning. Getting things up and running was just as important to their survival as securing the rest of the prison was. She only hoped that the risks they were taking, wouldn't all be in vain again.
Thank you for reading!