This is, hands down, my favorite chapter so far and I hope you all like it, as well!
Chapter Eleven
When Daryl woke up the next morning, it took him awhile to figure out where he was. The bed was too big to be his own and the sheets, too soft. Plus, there seemed to be a weight lying on his right side. Definitely not in his own bed, then. Opening his eyes, Daryl was pleasantly surprised to see Carol's face only inches from him. She was still deep in dreamland and it must have been happy ones, because there was a small smile curled on her soft, pink lips. Was it possible that Carol could be dreaming about him? His own dreams had been plagued with her image, though she had been anything but happy. That eternal sadness that settled deep in her ice, blue eyes had shown brightly. No matter how hard he had tried, that sadness would not diminish. With a jolt, which luckily had not roused Carol at his side, Daryl realized that his dream hadn't really just been a dream. It was also his reality. Briefly that sadness in Carol's eyes had been covered up during their dinner the night before, but something had happened as they were leaving that caused Carol's walls to slam back up, again. He had asked what was wrong, but of course, Carol had deflected the question and shrugged of his concern.
Daryl knew that in the way Carol kept a conversation going in his truck that she hadn't wanted to risk him asking about what had just happened in the restaurant. Just as he thought they were finally getting somewhere, something like this happened and he was thrown right back to square one when it came to Carol opening up to him. It all felt weird, though. Daryl knew that he should be the one who was closed off, considering the horrible events of his past, and for the most part, he was. However, with Carol, everything seemed to change. His hang-ups about touch went out the window when Carol was around and he found himself craving her touch and trying to find out why she seemed to sad and scared all of the time.
Carol mumbled something in her sleep, then, and turned on her side, facing away from him. Blood rushed to the places it had been cut off from before and Daryl's whole arm started to feel like it was being pricked by hundreds of pins and needles.
Propping up on an elbow, once he regained feeling on that side of his body, Daryl looked down at the woman, whose bed he was in. His hand itched to trace the curves covered by the blanket and to run his fingers down the feather soft skin of her cheek, but he feared waking her and kept his hands to himself. In a month's time, he and this woman would be sharing a bed every night. Not only would they sleep together in that bed, but they would...they would make love. Daryl would finally know how it felt to be with a woman and not just any woman, either, but the beautiful one lying only inches from him. He would finally feel how soft her skin was underneath her clothing. He would finally know what it would feel like to be inside her, to move with her and to feel her unravel beneath him. He would finally know the sounds she would make as they moved to reach that peak together.
Daryl felt his whole body heat up at the images that flitted into his mind, and knew that he needed to get out of the bed before he embarrassed himself...or make Carol uncomfortable, which was something he never wanted to do. Just because he was ready for that stage of their relationship did not mean she was. Carol had been the one to request to have their wedding in a month and Daryl was going to respect that. Respect her. So, he slid carefully from the covers and warmth of the mattress, careful not to wake Carol, and padded towards the door. With one last look at Carol, he slipped out of the room.
It was weird to be walking in Carol's home without her by his side. The first time he had been here, he had a whole in his side and half-mad with pain and later, loopy from the pain medicine. The second time, he had been introduced to her kitchen and living room. Last night, he had finally entered the only room in her home that he hadn't been in before. Carol's bedroom.
When he walked into the kitchen, which was brightly lit because of the sun streaming through the large, bay window to his left, and saw that the time on the stove read 10:14. Normally, he would have been up a few hours before, but he didn't mind sleeping in this time. He would gladly sleep the day away with Carol, if that was what she wanted. Hell, maybe once things calmed down southward, he would crawl back into bed with her and do just that.
However, it was not to be when his stomach began to protest its emptiness and his eyes involuntarily went to her fridge. If she had some bacon and eggs in there, Daryl knew he would be able to whip a decent breakfast for the two of them. Maybe he would even bring into her in bed.
Walking over to the fridge, he opened it and saw that she did have the items he needed for breakfast. Taking them out, he got to work.
"Did you really think you could get away from me?" A fist swung out and connected with her face. Carol knew she should be feeling pain at the blow, but could only lie on the floor where she had fallen in shock. Ed had found her and she had no doubt that he was going to kill her.
"Get up, bitch." Ed leaned down gripped her by the arm and hauled her to her feet. "Did you really think that piece of shit would protect you from me? I could have told you that he wasn't worth anything. He sure as hell couldn't protect you."
Fear shot through Carol. "What do you mean?" Where was Daryl? He had just been there, but now, he was just gone.
"Oh, honey, you haven't seen what I did to your boy toy, have you?" Ed's grip on her arm didn't loosen and he started to drag her through her house until they reached the kitchen. It was clear a struggle had gone down there. The table was tipped over, chairs lay on their sides and broken dishes littered the floor, but what caught Carol's eyes immediately was the red. There were red splashes everywhere. Some of it even dried and had become almost black in color. It looked like blood...
No...
He pulled her around the center counter. "There you go."
Carol didn't want to look down. She refused. Ed noticed and with a snarl, gripped the back of her head and forced her to look down and found herself looking into the lifeless eyes of Daryl Dixon...
Carol woke with a jolt and Daryl's name on her lips. Looking around she saw that she was alone in bed, even though she knew Daryl had been there with her last night. The side he had been on was cold, which meant that he hadn't been there for a while. What if that wasn't a dream? What if Ed really had found them and...
Carol scrambled out of bed and nearly fell in her haste to get to the door. "Daryl!" She called and ignored the fact that she her voice sounded borderline hysteric. She needed to know where Daryl was and needed to know that he was all right.
"Daryl!" She cried and stumbled to her knees in the hallway once she had pushed open the door. The smell of cooking food didn't even register until it was overpowered by the unmistakable smell of Daryl. Instantly, she found herself cradled in his strong arms.
"I'm here. I'm here," he reassured and Carol didn't even know she had been crying until she felt the salty tears slip past her lips. Once she became aware of them, there was no stopping her sobs.
"Oh God, Daryl. You're alright. You're alright."
"Was it a nightmare?" His words ghosted over cheek and she nodded.
"It's over, now, and I'm here and I'm all right." With his help, they got to their feet. Carol was unsteady, but Daryl wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close.
"You're here," she repeated and looked up to give him a watery smile.
"How about some breakfast? Maybe that will help you feel better." He guided her down the hall towards the kitchen and not once did he break his contact with her. That was until they made it to the kitchen and saw that what ever he was cooking on the stove was now smoking.
"Fuck!" He cried and ran to the range to turn off the flame. "So much for breakfast," he mumbled.
Carol couldn't help but giggle and the nightmare from earlier was momentarily pushed to the back of her mind. "Are you trying to burn my house down, Daryl Dixon?" The tips of his ears grew red and he turned from her to dump the darkened mass of whatever he was cooking into the garbage.
"No," he mumbled. "Was tryin' to show you I could cook you a nice breakfast. Course I gotta fuck it up. Sorry."
Carol waved him off. "No need to apologize." Walking up to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed affectionately. "We can always have some cereal and coffee. Sound good?"
He nodded with a shy smile.
"Okay, you get the bowls, spoons, milk and cereal and I'll get the coffee maker up and running. Breakfast can still be saved."
"Did you want to talk about it?" They had just finished breakfast and were now sitting at the table staring out the window, together.
"Talk about what?" Carol panicked.
"Your nightmare." Daryl's eyes searched hers.
"Uh, I forgot about it, actually." Right away, she knew that he wouldn't believe her, but she didn't want to talk about it with him. Especially since Ed had played a major part in it and that was something Carol didn't want to talk about it, yet.
"I see." Daryl looked disappointed as he stood and collected their dishes. "Oh, when I was cookin' earlier, somethin' in one of the drawers went off. Sounded like a phone, but I wasn't sure."
No.
Part of her expected it, though. She would be lying if she had thought Ed hadn't seen her last night, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to see the words confirming it. But she would have to look at it eventually. So when Daryl started to fill the sink up with hot, sudsy water, Carol opened the drawer that held her phone and unlocked it.
Two new messages.
I finally found you... Read one. The words sent a chill through her, but it was the second text that filled her with dread.
If you think that piece of shit I saw you hanging off of last night will be able to protect you WHEN I find you, then you are even stupider than I thought. No one will get in my way of having you, Carol... No one.
Carol didn't even know she had fallen to her knees until the pain resonated up her spine. Daryl had abandoned the sink and was now, kneeling in front of her for the second time that day. His eyes were wide and wild with fear.
"What's wrong, Carol? Tell me." His hands gently cupped her cheeks and his thumbs worked fiercely to swipe away the tears. "Come on, darlin', I need you to tell me what's troublin' you."
She couldn't do it, though. She couldn't open her mouth and tell him about the horrors she had to suffer because of Ed. She didn't know if she could ever do it.
"Nothings wrong, Daryl." She tried to smile and began to wipe away the tears on her own. "I'm all right."
"No!" Daryl snarled and was on his feet. Carol didn't think she had ever seen him angry before. "There is somethin' botherin' you and I want to know what. I love you for fuck's sake and there's somethin' holdin' you back from lovin' me." His voice filled with sorrow, then. "I want to help you get past this, whatever it is, but I need you to tell me."
Carol stood up on shaking legs. "I-I can't, Daryl."
Daryl's shoulders slumped, then, and the look on his face broke Carol's heart. "Fine. Then...we can't get married."
"What-What are you saying?" This was something she was not expecting and it was something she hadn't expected to be so devastated to hear.
"I can't do this if you ain't willin' to trust me. I can't do this knowin' that you will never allow yourself to love me."
"That isn't true!" Carol protested.
"I know we haven't know one another long, but I know you care for me...hell, sometimes I think that maybe, just maybe, you're startin' to love me, but then somethin' like this happens and I knew that all along I was just kiddin' myself." He ran a viscous hand through his hair. "You can keep the ring, Carol, to at least have somethin' to remember me by." He looked like he wanted to reach out to her, then, but kept his hand firmly by his side. The blue of his eyes swam and she was surprised to see tears, there. "Goodbye, Carol." He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Carol called and rushed to grab his arm. "Okay, I'll tell you." She began to cry, softly. "I'll tell you. Please. Just don't leave. Please."
This chapter was meant to be so much longer, but things went a little different than I had planned. Unfortunately it may take me a little while to update the chapter since I have other stories that I've been kind of neglecting. *cough*A Boy, A Girl and New York *cough*.
Thanks for reading!