Chapter 15
"Leave em"
Carols hand froze over the empty jug that was laying in the the tray of his truck. She frowned at him in confusion, but let her hand drop back down.
"I can help you. You don't have to do it alone" she said, while he nodded along as she spoke.
"You can help me" he said before stopping to look at Sophia who still clinging to his pack, that he knew was a little to heavy for her to be carrying. But as always Sophia wanted to a task to complete and he guessed it couldn't be to heavy or it would have toppled her over by now.
"Us. You can help us" he corrected, eyeing Sophia making sure she wasn't bothered by the slip up. "When it's time, ya can. But we ain't down here to worry about fillin' the jugs"
Sophia smiled widely and dropped his pack to her feet, while he pulled his tightly rolled sleeping bag from the tray and fixed the strap of his crossbow over his shoulder.
"Brought you these Mom" Sophia announced as she snatched the clothing from his bag.
"I need to change?" She questioned Sophia, before her eyes snapped back to him. "What are we doing down her"
"Enjoyin' the day. Suns beatin' down on us, hotter then hell. Waters good and clear, so I thought we'd cool off."
Sophia bounced away with his pack and he quickly followed her, without a second thought. He was afraid that she was a bit to excited and might not wait for him to check the water.
He had realized, in the time he had known Sophia, just how easy the kid was to please. They came to the stream almost everyday, but simply changing their reasoning for the trip, seemed to add a new flare to the scenery.
"Wait, I wanna look first" he barked, making Sophia freeze in place. He scolded himself for the tone he had used, before he looked over and found that it hadn't seemed to upset her in the slightest. She still looked just as eager as she had moments before.
When he heard a sound behind him he checked over his shoulder and saw Carol jumping back into the truck. He guessed she was getting changed into the clothes Sophia had brought, so he kept his back to her, to give her some privacy.
"Is it good?" Sophia asked, bumping into his side as he checked for any walkers that had gotten caught in the deeper parts of the water. He hadn't ever seen any in the water, but he still checked each time. Sure that the one time he didn't check one would be in their waiting to grab at the kids limbs.
"Looks good enough"
He took a few steps forward and examined the water closer, but as usual there was no sign of anything.
"Just stay around here ok" he added waving his hand around the area in front of him.
Sophia nodded and dropped his bag, then she quickly went to work toeing her shoes and socks off.
As she made her way to the shoreline, he started unrolling the his sleeping bag onto the ground and undoing its zipper, to spread it out as much as he could.
After he worked on creating a little space for them to relax in, he started going through what he was going to do next. Deciding how he was going to go about making lunch and wondering how long he could drag the imaginary vacation out.
"Daryl. I'm to busy to be doing this" He heard Carol mutter as she walked up behind him. He could hear to much urgency in her tone, so much that it made him feel like he was in a hurry right along with her. But they didn't have anywhere to rush off to.
"Ya ain't busy at all Carol." He told her as he went through the things he had packed.
He turned his head slightly, seeking her out."Right now all ya gotta do is sit and-"
As his eyes landed on her he couldn't help but choke out a sound.
He didn't mean to stare, but he hadn't seen her legs before. And the shorts were….short. As soon as his eyes landed on them his mind instantly tossed fantasies at him and he was unable to ignore them.
"And relax. You deserve to relax." he choked out.
"I have to be back there- very soon. I'm supposed to start making lunch" Carol pointed out while looking over at Sophia who was dipping her feet into the water.
She hadn't noticed the dumb struck expression that he knew he was wearing. For that, he was grateful.
The sight of her in those shorts had brought on something similar to the urgency Carol was feeling, but he had more intriguing ideas in his head. He felt an urging to do something completely different to those things Carol was convinced she needed to handle.
"Andrea and Jackie are gonna do it. And I'm sure, if Lori wants to eat, she might be able to muster the energy to help. But you, me and Sophia, we're eating lunch down here. Gonna relax right here."
Carol shook her head and he could see genuine concern in her eyes."Daryl I can't-"
"Cant relax?" he asked cutting her off and narrowing his eyes. The look on her face was enough to distract him from the thoughts he'd had a minute earlier.
Sophia snorted loudly, before she managed to contain the sound. He looked over just in time to see her actually smirk at him. The girl wasn't known for being a smart ass, but she seemed to find the assumption highly amusing and he knew why.
He looked back to Carol and raised his brow at her."Can't do it, can ya? Cant just stop?"
Carol huffed, obviously a little frustrated. Suddenly he felt as though he'd kidnapped the women. Dragged her away to a horrible afternoon by the water and away from the luxury of washing peoples clothes and feeding them like a pack of useless infants.
He didn't want her to be pissed at him, it kind of defeated the purpose of bringing her down here in the first place.
He chewed his lip for a moment as he considered what he might say to help her settle in.
"Listen. It's all taken care of. I'm gonna make ya lunch soon and were gonna stay down here while Soph has a swim in the water. She brought you the shorts in case you wanted to join her."
Carol looked back over to her daughter who was slowly making her way deeper into the stream. The water was barely above her knees, high enough that she could glide her fingertips over the water's surface.
He watched as Carol's face softened slightly at the sight of Sophia, but still noticed her whole form tighten at the thought of trying to relax.
It occurred to him after an hour, that he had never seen Carol really sit still, especially if there was work to do. It also seemed that no one had ever requested that Carol sit still before.
He couldn't imagine Ed promoting the idea that his wife take some time for herself to relax. But he was going to push that shit, even if it ended with her smacking him upside the head, which was something he was sure she had considered since their arrival.
His eyes snapped to the movement, catching the sight of her hand closing around the can. He shook his head, leaning over the food he was preparing to take it from her, growling out a frustrated sound that he hadn't meant to make. She groaned out a similar sound in response.
"Ya know I can cook right? Long, long, long time ago, before I met you, I used to cook my own meals. Hell, I even washed my own clothes. Crazy I know."
"Why cant I help?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him and he mirrored the expression.
"That's the thing, you can help. I know you can. You do this shit all day. The real question here is, can you sit back and let someone else do the work?"
He'd kept his voice leveled, he'd kept his tone light and lined it with feigned amusement, just so she wouldn't get too pissed at him. But didn't seem to work.
He noticed her shoulder lock and stiffen in place, he even noticed the very brief shake of her chin, before she reined it all back in and turned away from him.
She went back to watching Sophia play in the water and left the question he'd asked hanging there, unanswered.
She had an uncomfortable look on her face, it was that same one she wore whenever he thanked her for the many things she did for him.
The more he tried to get her to relax, the more tense she seemed to get. A part of him thought it might be more relaxing for her if he just let her take over and make the damn lunch, but it just didn't sit right with him.
She worked all day getting things done around the camp, she was constantly on the go, just so other people could relax and enjoy the end of the world in peace. He thought she liked to stay busy and he could understand that. But now he wondered now if she felt like she had to keep busy. He wondered if she thought she had no other choice but to keep going.
He scrapped the food from the tray into the pot and left it heating over the small fire he'd made. He'd done it. For the first time since he had met her, he was cooking Carol a meal that she hadn't had a hand in making. Even if he did have to fight her every step along the way.
"Aren't you hot?" Sophia called out from the water where she had been making small laps back and forth. It wasn't clear who the question was directed at, but he assumed it was to Carol.
He looked over to the girl and and forced a smile at her.
The sun was beating down on them and the faint breeze that was hitting them was dry and only made the heat more unbearable.
He left the food to cook, knowing it would take a good bit of time before it was ready, and started toeing his shoes off. He didn't have shorts so he settled for rolling his pants up to his knees.
He decided that he needed to push the women to relax. Even if he had to drag her kicking and screaming to the land of unwinding.
By the late afternoon when they had returned to the camp, he had successfully archived his goal of making Carol relax and he had also found a way to put a smile on her face, one that stayed planted on her lips long into the evening.
The three of them sat outside their tent eating the dinner that Carol had prepared with Andrea.
Sophia was reading and tuning them out. She'd fallen asleep when they were by the stream but it was obvious that she was still exhausted from the long excursion they had taken.
He sat alongside Carol, listening while she told him about some weird movie she had watched years ago. She told him that she was lucky enough to be awake in the middle of the night, at the exact right time, to catch the movie that was so strange it had stayed stuck in her head.
He was focused on the story she was telling him, until the ring caught his eye again. He decided to make his peace with the piece of jewelry, whatever it had symbolized, it didn't matter anymore. He wasn't going to let it be a problem and he wasn't going to let bullshit cloud his head so much that he pushed her away again.
After the day he had spent with her, it seemed stupid to ever let something so small get between them.
It was then that the story Carol was telling him was suddenly brought to a halt. He instantly dropped his gaze back to his food, but it had been too late.
Carol paused looking at her hand. He glanced back up at her, seeing her gaze caught on the ring she had quite obviously forgotten about.
He gave her a small smile, trying to assure her it didn't matter. Because it didn't. It was just a damn ring.
"What were ya sayin'" he asked as he took another bite. She returned a faint smile and started babbling about the movie again, but without the same enthusiasm she had minutes before. He listened to every word, asked her questions and made sure she knew he was interested, but it was obvious now that her mind was elsewhere.
There were only a few in the group left awake and he found it much more relaxing without so many eyes on him, knowing that he and Carol weren't the source of everyone's entertainment.
Glenn and Shane were on watch, while Dale and T-dog, who had been talking for most of the night, were sitting by the fire they'd made outside of the RV.
Carol had sent Sophia off to bed hours before and now it was just him and her leaning into each other, watching the flames dance in front of them. She rested her head on his shoulder, and for the first time, he didn't look around to see who was watching when he planted a kiss in her hair and moved closer to her.
"Warm enough?" he asked quietly, hearing her hum in reply, but he didn't know if the humming sound was a yes or no.
He grabbed another stick and snapped it in half before throwing it on the fire. He was ready to relax back into her side when she suddenly jumped to her feet.
"I'll be right back", he was so shocked by the sudden movement that he didn't have a chance to respond.
He watched her walk, or rather march, over to Dale and ask him something, before they both disappeared out of sight.
He watched in confusion as she emerged from the RV with a excited smile on her face, making her way over to him, with something tightly in her grasp.
She sat down in front of him, crossing her legs and handing him the small bolt cutters.
"Will you help me?"She asked with a smile.
He raised his brow at the question, puzzled about what she wanted him to do with the tool.
"Last time someone gave me bolt-cutters and asked for my help, I ended up in a shit load of trouble"
She laughed and shook her head, holding her hand out in front of him.
"Dale said it should work" he looked down at her hand realizing what she wanted him to do.
"You don't have to. It don't bother me" he said softly as he leaned in closer to her.
"It bothers me." She said with an unquestionably certain tone, shaking her head as she spoke. "I haven't been able to get it off in years, this is the only way."
He looked at the ring and back to her, examining the smile that was still spread over her lips. She looked eager and ready, he had no right to question that. Selfishly, he didn't want to.
He nodded to himself and took her hand, placing it on his knee with her palm facing up. He positioned the cutters, sliding one side under the tight band and eyed her.
"Does that hurt?" he asked, seeing how tightly the tool was wedged between her finger and the ring.
"It doesn't" she answered, with her eyes fixed on it like she was waiting on him to cut handcuffs from her wrists. With that thought he squeezed down and watched the gold split open. He slid the cutters out and used his fingers to bend the broken band, removing the proof of her marriage from her hand.
He looked at the broken and twisted ring before handing it to her, not knowing what else to do with it.
He had only just placed it on her hand when she quickly tossed it into the fire without a second thought. His eyes followed the small object over to the flames, in shock at the swift reaction.
His mouth was hanging open when he looked back over to her, he wasn't sure what he had expected her to do with it, but he hadn't expected her to seemingly not care in the slightest.
Her palms reached up and rested on his cheeks bringing him forward so she could place a small kiss on his lips, before she pulled away.
"I'm tired. Let's go to bed"
He nodded in agreement to the request, leaning in and kissing her once more before they headed into the tent. Into their tent. Together.