It was near midnight when they arrived back in Alexandria, the guard at the gate letting them through without question. They hadn't planned on returning until the next afternoon, but after days of poor luck and facing another rainy night they headed back early. Daryl followed Aaron's car, leaving the motorcycle parked behind it on the street. Neither wanted to open the garage door and cause a lot of noise to wake people. They took a few supplies into the house though, leaving them on the floor next to the entry closet.
"You could stay here tonight, if you wanted. We have a guest room, or there are a few couches." Aaron paused at the foot of the stairs, trying to be quiet.
"Eric might not care to find me on the couch in the morning. I should get home; Carol and Rick don't care if I wake them and they usually want to know everything immediately." Daryl shrugged, "I'll come back tomorrow afternoon."
"Alright, we can go over our reports then." Aaron nodded, looking up the darkened staircase. He waited until Daryl was gone before leaving his jacket over the back of a chair, and taking his shoes off. The downstairs was silent, and he let his eyes adjust to the dark instead of turning any lights on, wandering into the kitchen for a glass of water. He wasn't sure where Eric was; sometimes the stairs were too much to deal with and Eric would stay in the guest room on the main floor when Aaron was away.
He checked the rooms downstairs though and there was no sign of him. The house seemed quieter than usual, and it was starting to make Aaron feel uneasy. He had been trying to move quietly, but he knew that the slight noise would still wake Eric; that was what had always happened in the past anyway. He didn't hear any sign of movement though, and there was no sense that anyone else was present in the house. Usually when they were home alone he could feel that Eric was somewhere close-by, an undercurrent of awareness. He didn't feel anything at the moment, except that growing unease.
Aaron stopped by the stairs again, listening for a moment, and then went upstairs. He was careful of the squeaky step, and he paused as he reached the top. Their bedroom door was wide open, and that was very unusual. Eric liked to sleep with the door shut, claiming that the warmth stayed in the room better that way, and that it was more private.
He approached the door slowly, still listening for anything that seemed out of place, but the only thing he could hear was his own breathing. Aaron looked into the bedroom and stopped short. The bed was empty. It was made neatly and there was no sign of Eric in the room. He stepped inside quickly, rounding the bed and going into the master bathroom, flicking the light switches on finally and then shielding his eyes as he blinked to adjust to the light. That room was also neat, but empty.
"Eric?" He didn't bother trying to be quiet any longer, and turned the lights off as he left, but turned them on in the hall as he checked the other rooms on the second floor. "Eric?"
All of the rooms were empty. Aaron rushed back down the stairs, leaving the hall light on and flicking the switches on the main floor as well. He checked the guest room and looked at every single sofa and chair, as if willing them to not be empty. There was no sign of Eric anywhere, and Aaron froze at the foot of the steps, not sure what to do or where to go. He was starting to panic, nearly hyperventilating, when the doorbell rang.
"Aaron?" Carol didn't wait for him to answer the door, but opened it herself, blinking into the light until she saw him. "Aaron, it's okay." She shut the door behind herself and approached him with her hands held out toward him.
"What happened? Where is Eric?" He turned to face her, still breathing erratically.
"He's fine. He's at our house." Carol reached his side and took his arm, leading him back into the living room. "I came over as soon as Daryl got home. I knew you'd worry, but he's fine. We would have left a note, but we didn't expect you back until tomorrow and it wasn't a planned overnight stay."
"He's okay?" Aaron let her guide him to the couch and he sat as she went up the stairs to shut off the hall light. She grabbed his shoes on the way back, and handed those to him.
"He's fine. We invited him over for dinner, and then played a bunch of board games that Tara and Eugene had found. He was getting a headache so he took a pain med from Rosita, and it made him tired. He didn't want to be alone so I made up the pull-out couch in the den, and he is still asleep. I checked on him before coming over here." Carol grabbed the jacket that was draped over the chair and handed that to Aaron also.
He seemed confused so she continued, "Come back with me and you can sleep there, with him, until morning. I'm sure he'll be glad that you're back, and you don't want to stay here alone, do you?" She looked around, "Do you want to bring anything else?"
"No, but I should get the lights off again." Aaron glanced around the living room, "I've never come home without him being here before." Carol moved to get the lights before he was finished standing.
"I'm sorry. We should have left a note even if we didn't plan on all of this happening. We'll do better if it happens again, I promise." She touched his arm again, "I'm so sorry that we scared you."
He nodded, and his posture relaxed slightly as he moved toward the front door, "I'll be okay, I just need to see him for myself to be sure." Aaron frowned, "It isn't that I don't believe you, I just have to see him first."
Carol nodded, closing the door behind them as they walked out onto the porch, "I understand completely."