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 34
"It's strange, isn't it?" Carol asked as she and Daryl sat out in the backyard in patio chairs, "Merle not being here?"
"Hell yeah. It's too quiet," Daryl agreed, taking a sip of his beer. They had returned to the house, as Merle had requested, and after they had cleaned up a bit, they had gone to their respective employers and explained the craziness of the last few days. Thankfully, both of their employers were understanding. In fact, Daryl's boss, Hal, had told him that he hadn't expected Daryl on Tuesday or Wednesday anyways in light of what happened to Kevin. He also said that he was looking for a replacement for Kevin for the rest of the summer.
"I'm sure he's okay. Besides, you're going to see him tomorrow, right?" Carol asked, reaching over to grab a fry from the Styrofoam dish on the TV tray between them. Neither of them had felt like cooking and so they had opted to order some burgers and fries from the Burger Baron.
"Yeah," Daryl confirmed, "Hal's got me workin' light duty 'til he finds someone to replace Kev so I'll be done early enough to head up to the hospital. When you done tomorrow?"
"I'm taking a double shift tomorrow and Friday to pay Helen back for covering for me earlier in the week," Carol explained, "I guess the new girl at work is a nightmare. I miss Jacqui."
"She moved, right?" Daryl asked.
Carol nodded, "Her husband got a job in Atlanta so they moved up there."
"What time will ya be home?" Daryl wondered, "So I know when to be back from the hospital."
"Probably around ten," Carol replied, "You don't have to rush back on my account-"
"Ain't right for ya to be alone with Ed out there somewhere," Daryl told her quietly, taking another drink of his beer. Carol was quiet for a moment, frowning out at the sunset. Daryl sighed, "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring him up-"
"It's okay," Carol told him with a grimace, "I guess that's my reality now until the police catch him."
"They will catch him," Daryl assured her, "He's painted himself into a corner. Only a matter of time 'til they nab him."
Carol pulled her feet up onto her chair and hugged her knees to her chest and admitted, "I was such an idiot."
"You ain't the idiot," Daryl said automatically.
"I am," Carol refuted, "I should've seen the signs. Should've listened to the things people were telling me about him. Maybe if I had, none of this would've happened."
"You don't know that," Daryl replied. Carol managed a soft, almost sad smile.
"I don't," she agreed, "but I can't help but wonder. If I had broke up with him sooner, would he still have went after Veronica? Would Merle and Kevin be in the hospital now? Would…well…would you and I…"
Daryl paused in mid-sip and looked over at her, finding that her face was almost as red as her hair. He loudly swallowed what was in his mouth and tried to think of something intelligent to say. Finally, he settled on, "Ain't no use in dwellin' on 'what ifs'," he said, "We got now."
Carol looked over at him with wide, curious eyes and Daryl realized how that sounded.
"Shoot. Didn't mean...ya know…now, but uh, I meant we got time to…to figure that stuff out," he tried to backpedal. A genuine smile graced Carol's face at that.
"We do have time," she said, "and more than anything, I want to figure it out. I think it could be really great, especially after last night..."
Daryl was the one who was blushing now. He had been so worried that she would end up hating him for moving things too fast the previous night. He had lost control for a moment there and it had nearly wrecked everything. Last night wasn't the right time, not with everything that had happened.
"Sorry," he mumbled his apology.
"Stop apologizing," Carol told him firmly as she took a few more fries from the dish, "I don't regret it at all."
Daryl reached for the dish as well, choosing to eat rather than respond. He knew that if he did, he'd start the whole apologizing cycle all over again. No matter how many times Carol assured him that all was fine, he was convinced that it wasn't. He had groped her like a horny monkey for Christ's sake. He was already screwing things up.
"Stop," Carol ordered, wiping her hands on her jeans, "You're beating yourself up and there's no reason to."
Daryl grunted. Carol got to her feet and then came to stand right in front of him. Daryl's eyebrows shot up underneath his fringe of hair. His eyes moved up her slender body to her face. He swallowed hard and willed himself to focus on her eyes. Just her eyes. Not on her hips or stomach or breasts. Just her eyes.
"You didn't do anything wrong in the hotel room last night," she told him, "I kissed you, remember?"
At the word 'kiss', Daryl broke his own rule and looked to her lips. He hastened to correct himself, but the damage was already done. He was itching to place his hands on her hips so that he could pull her onto his lap. He wanted to taste her lips again and explore her mouth. He wanted to devour her…consume her.
"Don't…don't wanna do wrong by ya," Daryl managed to choke out, flexing his fingers to try to tamp down that urge to touch her.
"I trust you, Daryl," Carol said softly. She reached out to touch his cheek, a feather light touch that was sweet an innocent, yet it started a fire in Daryl's blood. It began in his cheek and moved rapidly through his body. He was barely breathing as Carol continued, "I know that you care about me and that you would never do anything to hurt me. You're a man of honor and I love that about you."
With that, she pulled away and began clearing away the Styrofoam. Daryl could only sit there, gobsmacked, with his beer resting in his hand. She thought he was a man of honor? That was a little ironic considering the thoughts that were running through Daryl's mind at that moment were definitely not honorable at all. His eyes strayed over to her, watching her as she carried the Styrofoam containers to the garbage bin out by the back fence.
Carol was at ease, walking like she had no care in the world. She was more serene than Daryl had ever seen her and he had to wonder if he might have had something to do with the small smile on her lips and that warmth in her eyes. Perhaps she really meant what she said about the kiss in the hotel room. Maybe she really was okay with what had happened and maybe she even saw it as a good thing. She dumped the garbage into the bin and then walked back towards the house, stopping to peck him on the cheek.
"What's that for?" Daryl asked.
"Because I care for you too," Carol told him simply. She disappeared into the patio door, leaving Daryl with a blush spreading over his face.
As much as Daryl wanted to be her man of honor, he didn't know how much more control he had. No matter how small the gesture, be it Carol touching his hand or kissing his cheek, Daryl reacted to it. If she kept it up, all of his honorable intentions would be shattered on the floor in no time at all.
0-TSR-0
Carol's eyes fluttered closed as she lay back into the pillows, exposing more of herself to the man before her. She felt his lips press against hers. The familiar stubble rubbed against her chin as he kissed her, but Carol relished in the slight pricks on her skin. It was Daryl. All Daryl, rugged and unshaven and oh so masculine. Her hands sought out his skin and they found the hard muscles in his chest. She could feel every line and dip as she ran her hands over his chest to his shoulders and the down the straining biceps. He broke the kiss only so he could begin a trail starting from her jawbone and moving down her neck. Each contact was like a spark setting fire to her body…
And then she realized she was on fire. The bed that they were laying on was suddenly engulfed in flames. Then Daryl was pulling away from her, screaming in pain and beating at the fire on his own clothes. Carol tried to get to him. She tried to move, but now the flames had trapped her in place. She could feel the fire licking at her skin and the painful pricks of the heat. All she could do was watch, terrified, as he fought the fire on his clothes.
A dark shadow emerged behind him holding a tire iron.
Carol tried to shout a warning, but no sound came out.
Then Daryl crumpled to the floor, taken down by the tire iron.
Ed stepped into view.
"No," Carol gasped, trying to escape only to have the walls on her fiery prison rise higher.
"There's no way out, Bitch," Ed snarled, advancing on her, tapping his free hand with the end of the tire iron, "You're mine."
The flames parted for him, almost as if they wanted Ed to punish her.
"No, no, please!" Carol pleaded. Ed reached out to grab her.
Carol cried out in the night and jerked up and out of the nightmare she was having. She was panting and hot. Beads of sweat rolled down her neck and forehead. It took her a moment to catch her breath and when she did, she looked around the darkened room. Her eyes had adjusted to the minimal light. There wasn't much left in the room. Just the bed and a dresser. All of Ed's things had been cleared away.
Even so, Carol could feel her presence there. She could feel his anger.
She was scared.
He was still out there and he would probably love nothing more than to beat her into submission with a tire iron. Carol knew that. Daryl knew that. That was why he had wanted to be home when she got home tomorrow. He knew that Ed could come back for her.
The thought made Carol feel ill. She got to her feet and made her way out of the room to the bathroom. She closed the door and turned to splash cold water on her face. It felt good. It calmed that fire. She went about her business and then, instead of returning to Ed's former room, she padded out to the living room and curled up on the couch. It was a bit brighter in the living room, but that didn't matter. Carol would have been surprised if sleep came to her again that night. Instead, she just lay back and looked up at the stucco ceiling.
Carol just wanted to forget it all. She just wanted to erase that chapter of her life and move on. Apparently that wasn't so easy, not with Ed lurking in her mind and popping out when she least expected it. He would be her own personal version of hell. He even came with his own flames of fiery torment.
She wondered if this was how it was always going to be. Would the nightmares and the pain plague her forever? What if she could never move on from the horror that was Ed? What would she do? Where would that leave her and Daryl? Would the dreams have an effect on her real life? On her new relationship?
Carol had the rest of the night to contemplate those questions.
As she had predicted, sleep did not come.
0-TSR-0
Merle spooned some lumpy oatmeal into his mouth with his good hand.
It tasted like shit, but Merle had come to expect that. Still, Merle wasn't one to pass up on a meal, no matter the quality. He knew the pain of hunger and he didn't need that on top of all of the other pain he was feeling at the moment.
After Daryl and Carol left, Merle had decided that he would only take drugs that the doctors offered him and that he would only hit the little button that dispensed painkillers to his body once every couple of hours. He made his brother a promise and Merle was going to try like hell to keep it. Besides, the pain was sobering. Just enough of it kept him focused and forced him to think on the way things had gone down.
Ed.
It all came back to that sorry fucker. Though Merle knew that Ed would get his comeuppance once he was caught, Merle felt it was not enough. Jail time was too good for that asshole. It didn't matter to Merle that Ed would most likely become someone's new sex-toy in the joint. No, Ed getting his ass tore up wouldn't benefit Merle in any way. Or Carol. Or Daryl. Or even Kevin 'Elton John' Jones.
"All done?" the nurse questioned, pulling Merle from his thoughts. She was a pretty thing, with brown hair pulled back into a pony-tail. She looked young. 'Lilly' was on the nametag tagged to her pale pink scrubs.
"Finished," Merle told her, setting his spoon down into the empty bowl.
"Anything else you need, Mr. Dixon?" she asked. Her eyes drifted over to his right arm. It was strapped to a pillow that had a cold pack shoved inside of it. Merle bit back a growl. He hated people looking at it, even the doctors and nurses that came through.
"Phone book'd be good," Merle said shortly. Lilly frowned at the request.
"A phone book?"
"Did I stutter?" Merle demanded waspishly.
"Sorry."
The girl scurried out of the room and Merle settled back against the pillows, glaring at the far wall until she returned. She deposited the book on Merle's nightstand and then took her leave as quickly as she could. Merle reached for the phone book with his good hand and put it on his lap so that he could flip through it.
"Terrorizing the nurses, huh?" a familiar voice commented from the doorway. Merle looked up to find Kevin Jones sitting in a wheelchair that was being pushed by a young man that looked very similar to Kevin, only taller and fit.
"The hell ya doin' out and about?" Merle asked, "And who's that?"
"This is my older brother, Mike," Kevin introduced, "Mike, this is Merle."
"Hello," Mike said, coming forward to shake Merle's hand with a firm grip, "Thank you for taking care of my brother after the accident. Appreciate it."
"Ain't nothin'," Merle shrugged, "So why're ya pesterin' me?" he asked, directing his question to Kevin.
"Carol suggested I ought to keep you company seeing as how we're stuck here together," Kevin explained, "So I got Mike to help me out."
Merle grimaced, "Ain't Carol thoughtful."
"So what are you up to?" Kevin wondered, gesturing to the phone book, "Prank calling to pass the time?"
"Hardly," Merle scoffed, returning to his phone book. He could feel Kevin's eyes on him, watching as he flipped the pages with his good hand before he found the one he was looking for.
"Lawyers?" Kevin said, "What d'ya need a lawyer for?"
"Got plans," Merle answered shortly, hoping that Kevin would get the hint and get his brother to roll him out of Merle's room.
"Plans like what?" Kevin prodded. Merle huffed and looked over at him. He had on a spare set of glasses that looked a little small for his face and he was looking at Merle expectantly. He reminded Merle of some pudgy little kid looking for someone to play with.
"If ya must know," Merle bit out scathingly, "I'm fixin' to sue Ed Peletier."
"Sue him?" Kevin asked.
"Fuck yeah," Merle said, "Bastard deserves to have somethin' waitin' for him when he's caught."
"He's gonna get jail time," Kevin reminded Merle, "Lots of it for what he did to Veronica, Carol, and me."
"Him gettin' gang-raped in a prison shower stall ain't gonna do me no good," Merle snorted, "It's Peletier's damn fault I lost my damn arm so I reckon it's fair that he pay my damn medical bills."
"Car accident, right?" Kevin's brother asked.
"Asshole was drunk and rolled his car," Merle supplied, "My arm was pinned."
"Go with Harrison & Wells," Mike recommended, reaching over to point at an ad for a law firm in the phone book, "They're good with car accidents. They represented my girlfriend's brother when he was t-boned at an intersection."
"Thanks," Merle said, reading the ad. Harrison & Wells looked pricey.
"Think we can talk Dad into helping to pay the lawyer fees?" Kevin wondered.
"What?" Merle asked sharply, looking up from the phone book.
Kevin chuckled a little, "C'mon, Merle. You're not the only one he screwed over. Even though eventually, I'll be able to walk again, it's going to take a long time to heal and a lot of physio. Then there's afterwards. I'm gonna be living with this injury for the rest of my life too. Early onset arthritis, chronic pain, and probably a whole host of other problems. If you're gonna sue him, then I might as well join you. Make your case stronger."
Merle considered it. It would make the case stronger, being that it provided evidence of Ed's recklessness in two vehicle accidents. It would also be nice to split lawyer fees with someone. Beside, Kev had a point. He would likely have a lot more lingering health issues from his accident, probably more than Merle would in the long run, minus missing a limb.
"Alright, Elton. Suppose we oughta get the ball rollin'. You callin' or me?"
TBC
AN: Jeez, it's been awhile. Sorry about that. Things have been crazy on my end and they're only set to get crazier as I just bought a house. I'll update when I can. Thank you for all of the fantastic support from everyone. It was nice to come back to the fanfic world to see your words of encouragement for this story and ABM. Hope you enjoyed this update!