The Spare Room

Summary: The bills keep piling up and if Daryl Dixon has any hope of improving his life, he and his brother are going to have to find someone to fill their spare room. The problem is that while he can't stand his new roommate, he finds himself falling for his roommate's girlfriend. Caryl. AU.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that you recognize from the Walking Dead.

Chapter 5

"You look like shit," Kevin observed the following Monday morning.

"Ya can blame thing one and thing two for that," Daryl growled, putting the truck into drive so that they could get out to their road, "All fuckin' weekend those two was makin' my life hell."

"Is Ed still a prick?" Kevin asked, curious, "He used to pick on the freshmen when we were in high school.

"Yep," Daryl answered with a yawn, "Don't know what his girl sees in him."

"You met Carol?" Kevin questioned, perking up with interest.

"Yep."

"She's great, isn't she? She's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met," Kevin gushed.

Daryl shrugged, "Seems alright. Cooked us dinner Friday night."

"I bet she's a great cook," Kevin said, "Her mama used to help out with the pancake breakfast at the fourth of July picnic and they were the best pancakes I've ever had."

Daryl nodded his head. Kevin appreciated good cooking and knew who made the best meals in town. Of course Kevin would know all about Mrs. Taylor's pancakes. Daryl shrugged his shoulders again, "It was pretty good chicken."

"Ya'll should've invited me over," Kevin said.

"Pfft," Daryl scoffed, "Wouldn't've been enough greens or potatoes for all of us. Swear Ol' Ed ate everythin' on the table just so me and Merle wouldn't get anythin'."

Kevin chuckled, "Yep, sounds like Ed's still an asshole. I still can't figure out what Carol Ann's doing with him."

"Neither can I," Daryl admitted, "Neither can I."

0-TSR-0

Carol didn't want to spend her summer holidays cooped up in the house with her mother, so she had spent her first week at home searching for a job. She found one at the Harvest Garden, a small restaurant frequented by the farmers in the area. Though she was just a waitress, she figured that having a job in a restaurant would look good on any future resumes. The Harvest Garden was a couple of miles out of town, but it saw a lot of business as it was just off the interstate. She enjoyed her work, even if it was exhausting. There were only two other waitresses on staff, Jacqui and Helen; a busboy, Brian; Mona, the manager; and Frankie, the cook. The lunchtime rush was especially bad, but she felt as if she passed some sort of test when the last of the customers left.

"Hundred dollars in tips," Helen crowed, thrilled as she gazed at the tip jar to be divided between the three waitresses and the busboy, "That's what, thirty a piece?"

"Try twenty-five," Jacqui corrected, rolling her eyes, "Honestly, Girl, where did you learn your math?"

"Easy!" Helen protested, "I just started here a month ago. I'm not a math genius yet."

Jacqui raised her eyebrows at the blond before she turned to Carol, "Honey, I hope you've got some smarts in that head of yours."

"I've been told I'm too smart for my own good," Carol replied with a grin. She liked Jacqui. The black woman had worked at the Garden for three years, earning money to support her husband, who had recently got laid off, and her twin five-year-old boys, Kyle and Luke.

"You can never be too smart, Honey," Jacqui corrected, "Like I tell my boys, you never stop learnin'."

"My boyfriend might disagree," Carol admitted, "Says with how expensive schooling is, I'm better off to just work until we get married."

Jacqui snorted, "You tell your boyfriend that the schoolin' will pay off in the end. I'd tan my boys' backsides if they ever fed me a line like that. They're finishin' high school and I don't care if their daddy and I have to sell our house, they're both goin' to college."

Carol opened her mouth to respond when the bell at the door dinged, signalling that they had new customers. She glanced over to the door and nearly started when she saw Daryl Dixon strolling over to a booth with Kevin Jones in tow. She hadn't expected to see two people that she recognized. Most of the folks from Cranwall tended to eat at the Skyway Chinese joint, the Burger Baron, or Alzone's Italian restaurant.

"I got this, Jacqui," Carol said, grabbing up two menus and walking towards the two men. Daryl's back was to her, but Kevin's face lit up when he saw her.

"Carol Ann!" he exclaimed, getting up to give her a hug, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hello, Kev," Carol greeted, returning the hug, "What have you been up to?"

"Not much," Kevin said, sitting down opposite of Daryl, who offered her a small nod of acknowledgement, "Just working for the county spraying ditches with my man, Daryl, here. You know Daryl, right?"

"Yeah, we've met. Ed's staying with Daryl and his brother," Carol responded with a smile, "Can I start you boys off with some water?" she asked, taking in the sweaty appearance of both men.

"Be great, thanks," Daryl said with a nod. Carol set to work getting the water for them while watching their table. Kevin was saying something in that enthusiastic way of his and Daryl was nodding along to whatever, looking bored. He glanced over at Carol and caught her eye as she moved forward with the water. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but they seemed bluer now in the brightly lit diner than they had on Friday in the cramped kitchen of his home. She averted he eyes to focus on walking to the table without tripping over her feet.

"Here we are," she said, placing the glasses on the table, "Do you boys know what you want?"

"Double cheese burger, loaded, with fries and gravy," Kevin said, "And maybe a slice of apple pie?"

"I should've known," Carol chuckled. All through high school, Kevin always had a slice of pie in his lunch. His parents lived on one of those u-pick fruit plantations and his mother always made excellent pie.

Kevin grinned at her and gestured to Daryl, "What're you having, Buddy?"

"Pulled-pork sandwich sounds good," Daryl said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Carol replied, "Do you want a side with that or…"

"Just the sandwich is good," Daryl told her.

"Yeah, he's gotta watch his figure," Kevin joked. Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Shut up before I make ya shut up," he replied, though Carol could tell that he wasn't serious in his threat. She left them to banter back and forth and delivered their order to Frankie. She was going to go sit with Helen and Jacqui to wait for the orders to be up, but Kevin waved her over.

"Carol Ann, come sit with us for a bit," he invited her.

"Kevin, I'm working-"

"C'mon for old time's sake," Kevin encouraged with that goofy grin of his. Carol sighed and sat down beside Kevin, unable to argue with him. Kevin had been a good friend in high school, even though he got picked on a lot due to him being a little chubby and his quirkiness. A lot of people called him a queer and bullied him as such. That never mattered much to Carol. Those were just things that people said. It didn't mean they were true.

"Alright, you've got me sitting. Now what, Kev?"

"Tell me about Atlanta," Kevin encouraged, "Must've been nice getting out of this town."

"It was," Carol admitted, "It was so big, though. Almost too big. And so many people."

"Sounds great," Kevin said, "I can't wait to get out of here. Only four more months."

"And then what?" Carol asked.

"Then I'm going to be going in for civil engineering," Kevin told her, smiling even wider at the thought, "It's gonna be great!"

"Wow, that's great, Kev. I'm happy for you. I know how much you wanted to get into engineering," Carol said, happy that he was finally doing something he wanted to do. For a long time, Kevin had felt just like Carol did: trapped in the small town. That was one of the reasons that they were close in high school.

"Thanks," Kevin replied before looking across the table at his quiet friend, "Did you know Daryl's thinking of going to school too?"

"Right," Carol remembered, "For a science degree, right?"

Daryl looked reluctant to be pulled into the conversation, but he nodded his head and confirmed her statement, "That's the goal."

"He wants to be a wildlife biologist," Kevin supplied when it became apparent that Daryl wasn't offering up any more details, "He wants to be one of those guys that lives in the woods and surveys wildlife. Kind of like the Jane Goodall of Georgia."

Daryl scowled at the description and shook his head, "Ain't like that."

"Then what is it like?" Carol asked, genuinely curious. She had heard him be called a tree-hugger and the Jane Goodall of Georgia, both labels that he apparently didn't like. Daryl sighed, like he was gearing up to do something particularly unpleasant.

"Wildlife biologists study animals either in the wild or in zoos and shit. They observe animals and look at things that affect the population, like disease or human actions. What ya do with that info depends on the job ya doin'. Could be that ya givin' the state info on the animals in an area so ya can come up with huntin' regulations. Could be that ya workin' with zoos to help'em care for animals," Daryl explained. It was the most that she had heard him speak and as he spoke more about it, Carol could hear the excitement in his voice. It was the same sort of excitement that was in her voice when she talked about having her own restaurant. He continued, "They try to keep the other humans from fuckin' with nature. They try to…" he paused, seeming to catch himself as he got too excited. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed, "It's better'n some things."

"That sounds like a really good cause," Carol said, smiling reassuringly at him, "It sounds like you're pretty passionate about it."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders again and looked her through his fringe of hair. She saw so much hesitation, a reluctance to verbalize his thoughts on the matter, and she wondered what he was holding back. She wondered what he was guarding against.

"That shrug means, 'yes, yes he is passionate about it'," Kevin translated, "We're still working on him using his words."

Daryl wearily shook his head and muttered, "Shut up, Kevin," under his breath.

Before Carol could say too much more, their order was up. She went to retrieve it and left them to their meal in peace. She sat back with Jacqui and Helen.

"Friends of yours?" Jacqui wondered.

"Kevin and I went to school together. Daryl is my boyfriend's roommate," Carol explained.

"Which one's Daryl?" Helen asked, the blond leaning over the countertop.

"The long-haired one," Carol answered.

"He is cute," Helen observed, "He got a girlfriend?"

"I dunno," Carol responded, "I've only met him a couple of times."

"You should find out for me," Helen encouraged her with a grin, "He is cute."

Carol shrugged her shoulders and agreed. What harm could it do to find out if Daryl was single or not?

0-TSR-0

Daryl felt like complete shit as he turned down his street. It had been windy in the afternoon, not enough that they had to quit spraying, but enough that Daryl got a face full of chemical every now and then. He felt dirty. All he wanted was a long shower, a halfway decent meal, and then a long sleep.

But apparently, the universe wasn't on his side.

A blue car sat in front of his house and the owner of that car was sitting on his front step. With a groan, he pulled his truck into the drive and got out.

"Hi," he greeted the little woman he had seen in the diner earlier that day. Carol Taylor smiled brightly at him.

"Hey," she said, getting to her feet, "Sorry. Ed told me to meet him here after work, but he's a little late," she explained with a resigned shrug of her shoulders.

"Shitty deal," he observed, "What time was ya supposed to meet him?"

"Four-thirty," she answered. Daryl raised his eyebrows. His clock on his truck had read five-thirty-three.

"He's more than a little late. Ya been here a damn hour at least," Daryl grumbled, shaking his head at the idiocy of his roommate, "Ya been sittin' on the step the whole damn time?"

"Yeah, but I had a book," Carol said, holding up a tattered volume of 'Sense and Sensibility' as if that made Ed's tardiness okay.

Daryl shook his head and gestured to the door, "Ya wanna come in? Wait inside?"

Carol smiled and nodded, "That would be great."

She followed him inside, watching him take off his boots in the entry way. Daryl was well aware that he probably stunk like body odor and chemical and was more than eager for that shower. Still, it was probably rude to leave her by herself. He stood awkwardly after he was done with his boots and brought his hand up to his mouth to gnaw on his thumb.

"Uh, I…uh…smell real bad. I'm…uh…gonna go shower quick," he told her.

"Alright," Carol said, "I'll just…um…make myself at home?"

"Yeah. Do that," Daryl replied with a nod before scurrying off to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

It was probably the quickest shower of his life. He didn't even properly dry himself, making it a struggle for him to get his dry clothes onto his slick body. He didn't want to leave the woman by herself for very long. He tumbled out of the bathroom and moved through the house until he found her tidying up the living room.

"The hell ya doin'?" he asked, startling her enough to make her jump.

"Oh, sorry. I just thought I might clean up a bit-"

"Ya ain't gotta," Daryl said quickly, "Was gonna get to it later."

"It's okay, Daryl," Carol said with a light laugh, "I understand. A house with just three men living in it isn't going to be the cleanest of places."

Daryl chewed on his lip and shrugged his shoulders. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of the woman cleaning his home. It was the principle of it. It wasn't her mess. Half the time, it wasn't even Daryl's, but he didn't want her thinking that he was a slob. Again, he had no idea why he was so concerned about what she thought and it only served to agitate him more. Carol's smile faltered a little as she took in his appearance, almost able to read that he was uncomfortable.

"Look, I'm sorry. It wasn't my place to say anything-"

"Ain't nothin'," Daryl told her, "Ain't no big thing. Uh…we could, uh…go sit in the yard," he suggested in an effort to get off the topic. Carol's smile returned and she nodded.

"That sounds great," she said sincerely. Daryl gave her a little half-smile and turned to venture into the kitchen, stopping at the fridge to grab a beer. He paused as he was about to shut the door, once again remembering his social etiquette.

"Uh, ya want one?" he offered, glancing up at her. For the first time, he saw uncertainty in her face.

"I've actually never had one," Carol responded. Daryl's eyebrows shot up.

"Never?"

"Well, I've had alcohol before," she admitted hastily, "but never beer."

Daryl nodded and held out the beer for her. She looked down at it, still uncertain.

"Try it," he encouraged her, "Never know unless ya try, right?"

Carol smiled a little and nodded, "That is true," she agreed, reaching for the beer. Daryl watched as she cracked the top and took her first sip. She then made a face, "It's…uh…interesting."

"It's cheap ass beer," Daryl explained, watching as she cringed as she took another sip, "There's better stuff out there."

"It's not bad," Carol said, though he could tell that she didn't believe her own words.

"Ya don't gotta finish it," Daryl told her.

"I don't want to waste it," she replied, shaking her head.

"Ya won't. Here, give it here. I'll have that one and ya can get somethin' else," Daryl offered, taking the beer from her, "We got orange juice, water, and somethin' that once passed for milk back in the day."

Carol chuckled a little and requested a water. Then she followed him out into the backyard where they settled into lawn chairs.

"So, how was your afternoon, Daryl?" Carol asked in a bid to get conversation moving.

"Shitty," Daryl admitted, taking a sip of the beer, "Got windy and that makes sprayin' a crap job."

"Why's that?"

"'Cause the chemical blows back in ya face," Daryl explained, "That shit stinks."

"Isn't that dangerous?" she wondered, genuine concern on her face.

Daryl took a pull from his beer and then shrugged his shoulders, "Could be. The chemicals don't hurt us none now, but no one knows what the long-term effects are. Could be cancer-causin'. Merle says that I'm probably gonna have some two-headed kid or somethin'," he chuckled.

"That's quite a gamble with your health, isn't it?" Carol asked, her brow knitted in a frown.

"Maybe," Daryl shrugged again, "We all gotta die sometime, though."

This time Carol chuckled, "That's a happy thought," she said sarcastically. Daryl smirked a little.

"That's me. Real ray of sunshine when I wanna be," he said.

"I'll believe it when I see it," she teased. Then, more seriously, she asked, "You haven't thought about doing something safer?"

"Ain't much 'round here that pays as good," Daryl replied, "Gotta make money."

Carol nodded and asked, "So is work all you do?"

"Feels like it," Daryl admitted, "Not much time for anythin' else."

"But isn't there things that you'd like to do? Besides work?" Carol questioned.

"Suppose," he shrugged, "Like huntin', hikin'…dunno. Don't have much time, though. Work five 'til five most days. Longer if the weather's good. That don't leave much time for other stuff."

"What about dating?" Carol asked, making him choke on his drink. Where the hell had that come from?

"What?" he spluttered.

"Do you have time to date?" she questioned, "Are you single?"

"Uh…uh…yeah…single," Daryl stammered, completely confused, "What're ya askin' me that for?"

Before Carol could answer, however, a man's voice asked another question.

"Yes, what the hell are you asking him that for?" Ed Peletier growled from where he stood at the patio door with Merle.

TBC

AN: Yep, we're starting with cliffhangers. A few notes in regards to this chapter: Yes, Jacqui is our girl from season 1. Jane Goodall, for anyone who doesn't know, is a famous wildlife biologist who studied chimps.

Please let me know what you think so far! Thank you for all of the wonderful and kind support!