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 20

"So, have ya'll set a date yet?" Helen wondered, sidling up to the front counter while she chewed on a large piece of gum.

"Date?" Carol asked without looking up from money she was counting. It was cash-out time at the Harvest Garden and Carol was more than ready to go home. She had worked all day, which was a tough shift in itself, but then she had to take the evening shift as well as Jacqui's babysitter had cancelled last minute. It was exhausting, but it meant a pretty decent paycheck.

"For your weddin'," Helen clarified, "I saw the ring."

Carol paused and glanced down at her hand where the engagement ring stood out. She sighed, "Ed got it sized and is insisting that I wear it everywhere," she offered in explanation.

"And why not?" Helen wondered, "That's a decent size rock."

Carol shrugged her shoulders, "Do you want to do the sweeping?" she asked, more to get rid of Helen and her questions than anything. The last thing Carol wanted to talk about was Ed.

"Sure," Helen agreed, but the blond made no move to get to sweeping the restaurant. Instead, she blew a bubble, popped it, and continued, "So? When's the date?"

"Ed was talking about in the next couple of months," Carol admitted tersely.

"That's soon," Helen commented, her eyes glancing downward to Carol's belly, "Shotgun wedding?"

"No," Carol denied, shaking her head, "No, Ed just…he really wants to be married."

That was an understatement. All he could talk about when she and him were having dinner with Merle and Daryl was the wedding. Each time he brought it up, Carol wanted to dig herself a hole and crawl into it. Then she would look at Daryl, who was still trying to maintain that mask of his, and she would feel like the lowest human being on the planet. He didn't deserve to be in that position, listening to Ed making plans to marry her. Not when she knew how he felt about her.

"And you don't?" Helen wondered. Carol's head snapped up at the question. Was she that transparent?

"I do…I always have, it's just…"

"You're nervous?" Helen finished for her, "I would be too, marrying Ed Peletier."

Carol completely abandoned counting the money and looked full on at her blond co-worker, "What do you mean by that?"

"I went to school with him. He dated my best friend for a bit. Tina Folley," Helen explained, "I must have been when you were still in junior high school, Honey. Anyway, he was a real piece of work, Thought he was god's gift just because he played football and he figured that Tina should've worshipped the ground he walked on. He always wanted her with him and if she wasn't, if she was with me or some of our other friends, he'd get pissed. He'd always say that she was his and that she had to be with him. He still like that?"

Carol was struck dumb for a moment. Ed had never told her about Tina. In fact, he did still act the way that Helen described. Carol shrugged, "A little. How did it end?" she asked curiously.

"Ed was always accusing her of cheating, but it turns out that he was the cheater," Helen revealed, "My friend Kate caught him having sex with another girl in his truck at a party. Ed tried to talk his way out of it, but Tina stood firm. He tried for weeks to get her back. He'd follow her home, wait outside of her house…things like that. That ended when Tina's brothers came home for Thanksgiving, saw him at it, and beat him up."

Carol was silent. She hadn't known any of this and if she had, she probably never would have gone out with Ed in the first place. She felt like a fool. She had thought that she knew him, but really, it appeared that she hadn't known him at all. That feeling that she had been feeling all week intensified. She felt trapped, but she felt like her trap was getting made worse with each passing second. It was like she was a rabbit caught in a snare that just kept getting tighter and tighter as the hunter approached with his knife.

"But I'm sure he's changed," Helen said quickly, "After all, you wouldn't have agreed to marry him if he was still like that."

"Yeah," Carol said weakly.

"I'll get to sweeping and then we can get the hell out of here," Helen offered, finally getting to work and letting Carol finish hers. Carol's mind wouldn't turn off all through her cash-out and she had to recount it multiple times before she got it right. After she was finished, she hopped in her car and drove home. Though she was exhausted, she was sort of glad that she was getting home late. It meant that she would have a legitimate excuse for when Ed reached for her tonight. Since Monday, she had been making excuses as to why she couldn't have sex. She was sure that Ed was getting frustrated with her, but even he hadn't enjoyed the one time that they had sex since that time in Daryl's truck. Carol had been tense. How could she not be when the last time Ed had hurt her? She had gone through the motions, but in the end, Ed had been frustrated with her. He called her frigid after it was done. He said that she had sounded like a robot when she had answered his questions in bed. He hadn't been pleased at all. Since then, Carol had made excuses whenever Ed wanted her. She had fake headaches. She claimed to be tired. She would hide in the bathroom until he fell asleep. She was actually looking forward to her period in a couple of weeks so that she would have a week's worth of excuses.

How sad was that? She would rather deal with the cramps and the bloating than make love to her fiancé. This wasn't how she had pictured this point in her life at all. Nothing was how she pictured her life to be. She couldn't help but remember that conversation she had had with Daryl last Saturday night. What was it he had said before he kissed her?

"The world is a complicated thing. Never usually works the way ya expect it to."

More and more, she was coming to see that Daryl had been right. The world wasn't black or white, like Carol had always thought it was. It was filled with shades of grey. It wasn't straight-forward. It was messy. Complex. Carol had sure never thought that she would find herself engaged to a man that she wasn't even sure that she liked anymore.

She pulled up to the house a few minutes later and found it dark, something that she was actually relieved about. It hopefully meant that Ed was already in bed. As she went inside, though, she noticed a lamp on in the living room. Carol felt trepidation. She didn't want to see Ed at all.

As she rounded the corner, she found that it was Daryl sitting in the living room, sprawled out in the armchair reading a book. He must have heard her come in because he looked up at her, their eyes catching each other's in the low lighting.

"Hi," she greeted, not knowing if she should expect a response. He had spent most of his week avoiding her, only seeing her for ten minutes at supper time before he either spent the rest of the night outside or in his room.

"Hi," he said back, closing his book and setting it on the coffee table.

"Can't sleep?" she asked before he could get up and go to his room.

Daryl shrugged, "Somethin' like that. Long shift?"

"Yeah. Jacqui couldn't find a sitter, so I stayed late," she explained, coming to sit down on the couch, "What're you reading?"

Daryl, who had been fidgeting like he was about to get up and leave, paused again, "It's Stephen King. The Stand."

"Oh," Carol said, leaning forward to pick it up to read the back, "What's it about?"

"Some super-flu hits the world and kills off a ton of people," Daryl explained, "And the survivors either have dreams of a little old lady or some creepy guy. It ain't half bad."

"One of my dorm-mates was really into Stephen King," Carol supplied, "I never really liked the whole horror thing."

"This ain't really horror," Daryl said, "It's more…I dunno…sort of what would happen at the end of the world. Better'n that zombie shit that ain't never gonna happen."

"True," Carol agreed, "A super-flu is more likely than a zombie apocalypse."

Daryl mustered a sort of half smile before he got to his feet, "Uh, I'm…uh…gonna go to bed…"

"Can we talk?" Carol asked quickly, wanting to catch him before he left. This was the first time in five days that they had actually had a moment alone without anyone to interfere.

"About?" Daryl asked, looking wary and guarded. It had been with a pang of sadness when Carol first realized that Daryl had rebuilt all of the walls that he had taken down when he and Carol became friends. Carol had been ashamed of herself for hurting him.

"Us," she said simply. She saw it again, in the faint light, as part of his true feelings shone through the cracks in his mask. She saw hurt.

"Ain't no 'us', Carol," Daryl told her in a gruff voice, "Think ya made that pretty clear."

"Daryl, I…" Carol didn't know what to say to that. It sort of stung a bit that he no longer wanted her around him, but she couldn't really blame him, not after what she had done, "Daryl, I'm sorry that I hurt you. It was…it was never my intention and I feel awful about it. I don't blame you for hating me-"

"Don't hate you," Daryl grunted. Carol's heart leapt a little at that, but still, she had her doubts.

"You've been avoiding me," she reminded him, getting to her feet, "You've barely spoken to me all week."

"What do you want me to do?" Daryl questioned, angling his head towards her, "Ya want me to pretend to be happy that you're still with Ed? Ya want me to go back to things like nothin' ever happened?"

Carol was caught off guard. She didn't know what she wanted from Daryl. She didn't know why that out of everything, she was most hurt by the fact that she was losing him. Daryl was waiting for her to say something, genuinely curious about what was it she wanted from him.

"I don't know," she stammered, "I just…"

"Just what?" Daryl prompted.

"I just don't want to lose you," she admitted softly. Daryl's face changed. It seemed to soften as he took into account what she said.

"I…I…"

Now he was the one caught off guard. Carol closed her eyes and took a breath. Then she opened them and said, "These last few days…they've been just…horrible and I think the worst thing about it is that…I really don't have anyone to talk to and…and I miss you."

She was putting a lot out there and she didn't know how he would take it. It sort of sounded silly. She saw him every day now and she still missed him. She wouldn't be surprised if he laughed at her or walked away.

"I miss ya too," Daryl admitted softly, completely surprising Carol. She just stared at him for a moment and then it was like her feet were moving on their own accord towards him. She embraced him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest. He was tense at first, unsure, but then he began to relax, holding her against him. Carol couldn't help but notice how right it felt, being there, wrapped up in his arms. She felt safe, like nothing in the world could hurt her. She sighed happily and burrowed deeper into the embrace, feeling strangely like she was home.

0-TSR-0

"And then what happened?" Kevin demanded from his perch on top of the spray tank, looking very much like an over-excited puppy.

"That was it," Daryl said, passing Kevin a jug of chemical to add to the water, "I said goodnight and she went to get ready for bed. Looks like she slept on the couch, though."

"So she hugs you and then, instead of going to sleep with her fiancé, chooses to sleep on the couch?" Kevin clarified, "Sounds like she's getting sick of Peletier and is hankerin' for a little Dixon."

"Ain't like that," Daryl told him.

"Of course it ain't," Kevin agreed, his eyes rolling behind his glasses, "It could be like that though, if, instead of spending the week moping, you had actually manned up and went for her."

Daryl scowled, "I weren't moping."

"You were moping," Kevin said firmly, "Whenever I brought up her name, you'd get your little scowl and then you wouldn't talk for the next hour. Moping."

"You're a nag and you're pushy. Worse'n a damn woman," Daryl griped. All week he had had to put up with Kevin asking him why he hadn't done anything about the Carol situation and it was tiresome, especially when he had to go home to see Ed all over Carol about this wedding shit.

"And you need to throw out your little rule about not pursuing taken women, grow a pair, and then go and make Carol Ann yours," Kevin countered, measuring out the amount of chemical that he would be putting into the tank, "Really, from the sounds of it, it wouldn't take much to do that."

"Really? How d'ya figure?" Daryl shot at the little know-it-all.

"Let's break it down," Kevin said as he poured the chemical in, "She has to work late, so you stayed up to make sure she got in okay."

"Ed went to bed after smokin' a joint," Daryl supplied, "and I don't want to see nothin' happen to her."

"Right, because you love her," Kevin said, throwing Daryl a smug look.

"I don't-"

"You haven't been able to get your mind off of her since you met her, you would do about anything for her, and you're absolutely miserable when you're not around her," Kevin listed, "You're afraid to make another move because you're afraid of losing her and you've been a disaster all week over her. Sorry, Pal, you're in love."

Daryl wanted to protest. He wanted to say that he didn't love Carol and that he wasn't scared of anything. He wanted to deny it until he was blue in the face, but the words wouldn't come. The truth of the matter was that since he had first laid eyes on Carol, Daryl Dixon hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. The thought of not being around her did kill him. He'd rather just be her friend than be nothing to her at all just so he could be around her. He had never felt that way about anyone before and the fact that he did now just about confirmed it: he was in love with Carol Taylor. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Anyways," Kevin continued, "You wait up for her and when she gets home, she doesn't go straight to bed. She comes out to talk to you. She tells you that she wants to talk about you two and then she apologizes for hurting you. She says she misses you…even though she sees you every day now. Then, when you finally use words instead of caveman grunts, she hugs you and doesn't let you go for a minute or so. And finally, to top it all off, she doesn't go sleep with her fiancé."

"Sounds about right," Daryl begrudgingly admitted, his mind still reeling from the realization that he was in love with Carol.

"You are like one move away from being in with her," Kevin declared, "She's half in love with you already!"

"She…I…" Daryl stammered, "Dammit."

Kevin hopped off of the spray tank, "Okay, I know you're against the whole stealing thing, but from the sounds of it, she's not too pleased with her future husband…and really, two minutes isn't enough for anyone to feel pleased. All you have to do is show her that you're the better choice. Put your best foot forward and show her what she's missing. Then, she'll dump Ed and you're free to woo her in your own Dixon way."

It sounded tempting. It sounded real tempting. Daryl shook his head, "Ya don't get it. She ain't gonna leave him. She's got it in her head that she's gotta marry him."

"So change her mind," Kevin said, "Daryl, if you don't do something, you're gonna lose her for sure and you'll have to spend the rest of your life wondering what could've been. You've got to fight for her. Anything worth having is worth the fight."

Daryl sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He wanted the attention off of him so that he could process all of this, "Kev, why's this mean so damn much to ya? What's the big damn deal?"

"I told you that everyone deserves to be happy," Kevin reminded him, "and if you and Carol can overcome all of this then…well…maybe there's hope for me someday," he shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I'm just a romantic at heart."

Daryl really didn't know what to say to that. Kevin rarely ever talked about the possibility of love in his future and if he did, it was usually some made-up girl to get someone off his back. In this day and age, people were becoming more tolerant to the idea of homosexuality, but there were still those that held very rigid beliefs. Unfortunately, Kevin had been born into one of those towns that held those rigid beliefs and often had to hide who he was. He was well aware that if he wanted to find someone, he'd have to leave Cranwall to do it and even then, there would still be obstacles to overcome…probably even more obstacles than what Daryl and Carol would have to overcome if they wanted to be together.

Daryl put the truck back into gear and thought about what Kevin had said. If you wanted something, you had to fight for it. Daryl knew that better than anyone. For six years, he had been fighting to make his dream of going to school a reality, even with the odds stacked against him. He had struggled through high school to make the grades he needed while trying to scrape money together to save and to pay the bills that his old man never had the money for. He went from job to job, working long hours for whatever money he could get. It was hard work, but every day, he was getting closer to that dream, that goal.

These days, it seemed that Carol Taylor was fixing more into Daryl's dreams of the future and like with his goal of becoming a biologist, pursuing her would take hard work, which made him really think on the way he had saw things. Growing up, he had thought that love was supposed to be easy…effortless, like the way it had been for his grandparents. Now…well, he wasn't so sure. It was complicated and messy and really, really hard to sort through and deal with. His granddad had always told him that he would have to work for anything he wanted in life. Maybe that included love as well.

It was definitely something to think about.

TBC

AN: This is update 2 of 3.