A Few Years Later
The weekends always seemed longer to Zayla and it was likely because she and Daryl were the ones who had those two days off. Sometimes, they spent their off time getting some extra winks in at the Prison, but the past few, they've been taking trips to some of the residential communities to set up what they called Safe Houses. If they ever had to evacuate their home, Daryl and Zayla created houses with a week of supplies to last whoever found it along with a hand-drawn map, two pistols, two magazines and a battery-powered walkie-talkie for their people to find. They took to staying in the house for the weekend and clearing any Walkers that wandered in, keeping the area clear.
Late this afternoon, they claimed a green Mediterranean house and killed the former couple lingering in the dining room when they got inside. They tossed the ready-to-go duffle bag on the kitchen table and Daryl took Zayla by the hand, leading her to the master bedroom. As soon as the door shut behind her, he pressed her against it and was kissing her, their tongues already dancing with one another's. They pulled each other's vests off and Zayla pulled her sweater off and over her head while Daryl unbuckled his jeans and let them hit the floor.
Daryl put one hand against the door and it began rattling under the pressure. Slowly, she pulled away from him, making him whimper in disapproval. "What..?"
"I'm not gonna force you to do something that makes you uncomfortable, Daryl." He was confused by her words, but she wiggled out of his grasp until she was standing. "Don't even try it. You're shakin' like a leaf."
"I'm nervous, Z." He quietly admitted.
Her face was flushed, but she smiled at him and kissed his nose. "Daryl, it's okay. We don't have to."
"I've been wantin' to do this for years and it's finally happenin'. Been a long time since I last…" He told her, going back to kissing her between his words. "I just wanna make this the best experience I can. Don't ever wanna forget this, want it to be perfect. Please, Zayla…I need this."
Zayla forbid herself from ever having romantic, slow sex because that made her feel like the coupling was no longer a chase for release. It was lovemaking and she wasn't going to fall in love with anyone, she couldn't because she didn't know how to. Sure, she's had strong feelings for past boyfriends, but they were never enough for her to even consider if she loved her partner. But this was Daryl and everything she felt for him felt like fireworks in her soul.
Daryl tugged at the loop on the right side of her jeans and she took the hint, pulling them down with her underwear. The late afternoon sun was setting on Daryl's back and igniting Zayla's hair, their shadows playing against the walls. He lifted her back into his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist, making him slide into her. They both moaned at the contact and Daryl slowly, but deeply began lifting her up and down on his throbbing member. His cornflower-blue eyes clashed with her forest-green ones as he watched the pleasured faces she made.
"Fuck…" He moaned when she smiled at him.
She kissed him again, her tongue ready to meet his once more. She kissed down his neck and bit him to stifle her moan into his shoulder. Her hands were wrapped around his neck and she stopped biting him to all but sing in his ear when he began bucking into her.
"I've waited…so long…for this…" She whimpered against his lips, teasing her tongue against his mouth. He saw the tears watering her eyes and licked one that slid down her cheek. "I love you, Daryl."
"I love you too." He told her as he panted against her parted lips, looking deeply into her eyes. "Always have."
And they went like that, taunting each other with affirmations and declarations of love for a long hour until Daryl's knees finally buckled and he pulled out of her. Zayla's legs wobbled before they gave out as soon as he set her on her feet, so he finished on her face and awaiting tongue before sliding down to the floor with her. He pulled his hoodie off and wiped his mess off her face before throwing the soiled material across the room. He'd find something else to wear in the man's closet after they tested the showers.
With his back now bare, Zayla got to see all of the old scars littering his skin and she was checking to make sure that there weren't any new ones from Merle. She knew his brother didn't abuse Daryl like their father did, but Merle still could go too far sometimes. She quietly sighed in relief when she didn't find anything new and stretched her legs, getting the feeling back in them. She went to the en suite bathroom while Daryl was raiding the closet and she tried the faucets on the shower, smiling when warm water began spraying out of the shower head. She called for Daryl and they both jumped in, quickly washing before all the hot water was gone.
Daryl wrapped her in a towel before taking the other and tying the cloth around his waist. They dried off and Zayla began redressing, keeping her pants off while Daryl stayed in his vest and a new pair of boxers. They got in bed and laid together for a while, getting warm and basking in each other's affection.
….
Daryl was the first to wake that Sunday morning and he slept in past dawn and sunrise. He glanced out the nearest window and judging by the sunlight, he guessed it was around 9 AM. Zayla was still sleeping in bed with him and her hair was slightly messy from last night, but she was tucked under his arm around her shoulders. He gently moved some strands of hair from her face to watch her peacefully sleeping and wished that the moment could last forever. He'd go through the world ending all over again if it meant keeping this woman beside him for the rest of their days. He reached into his vest and pulled out a black Kodak Smile Classic, aiming it at her sleeping face. He pushed the button and smirked as the snapshot printed without waking her. He pulled the photo from the portable camera and tucked them both back into the pocket of his vest; he traced her cheek with his finger.
He came out of his daydreams when Zayla mumbled something, then her eyes were opening and she looked out the window before yawning. When she stretched, her arms came around his shoulders and pulled him closer, so he nuzzled into her neck before giving it a kiss.
"Hungry?" She asked and he nodded. She kissed him on the cheek before they separated and got out of bed, headed for the big kitchen downstairs.
….
"Zayla and Daryl are back!" Sophie chirped on her Walkie to Carl, spotting Zayla's yellow jeep pulling into the gates. She always took Sunday afternoon watch because she knew that the Hunting party always came back when her shift was over and Carl would be putting Judith down for a nap.
Sophie grabbed her little notebook from the ground and passed off the rifle to Michelle, who was to revive her from her shift. When she got to the ground, Carl was waiting for her at the bottom of the watch tower and Zayla was parking her jeep, so they waited for Zayla and Daryl to walk by. Sophie smiled when she saw them holding hands as they headed for the entrance of the prison while some of the men were unloading some supplies from the jeep.
"Hey, sweetpea." The ginger warmly greeted Sophie and lifted Carl's hat to ruffle his hair. "Take these to Rick from me and Daryl, okay?"
Zayla handed the young pair four marked maps where there were directions to each Safe House printed on them, then took her place beside Daryl as they entered the Prison together. Carl and Sophia looked at each other with the same mischievous glint in each other's eyes. They ran up the steps to the watchtower and went inside, locking the door behind them so nobody could get in.
Sophia delicately unfolded one of the maps and made sure to remember each crease for when she had to bend it back into its original shape. "It's a map to a safe house about 5 miles from here…a red Craftsman."
"That's 25 minutes on our bikes." Carl told her and smiled when she pulled her camera out to take a picture of the map. When it printed, she gave it to him and he tucked it into his pocket.
"Go ask your Dad if we can go out riding tomorrow. I'll go ask my Mom." She quickly kissed him on the cheek before unlocking the watchtower's door, scurrying down the stairs in search of her mother.
Carl gathered the rest of the maps, exited the watchtower and went to the gardens in search of his Dad because it was noon and time to water the plants. Like he knew he would, he found his father watering the crops and Michonne was in the shade with Judith in her playpen.
"Dad, these maps are from Daryl and Zayla. They started making safe houses. How cool is that?" He chirped as he handed over the maps and Rick unfolded another to read over it, nodding.
"That was very cool of them." Rick agreed with a smile.
"So, Dad, me, Sophie and some of our friends wanted to go riding our bikes outside tomorrow. Is that okay?"
"Sure, so long as an adult goes with you all."
"Dad, I'm seventeen and Ben's seventeen too, but Sophie and I can carry our own weapons. We can be the adults in the group."
"You're not eighteen yet, Carl, and Sophia's nowhere near that. I need all of you kids to be safe if you're going to be leaving the Prison." Rick reminded his son for what had to be the millionth time. Usually after two rejections, Carl would give up and relent to his father's words and would likely go out with Zayla as his chaperone or group leader, but he knew she and Daryl must have just gotten back from their weekend trip. An idea came to mind that made Rick smile. "Hey, I'm off on Mondays, so why don't I chaperone you guys?"
"We're old enough to go 5 miles away from home alone, Dad. Please let us do this ourselves."
Rick sighed at his son's stubbornness, but knew that Carl was serious about leaving their home by himself. He knew how dangerous things could be outside of the walls of the Prison and so did Carl, so he didn't understand why they were arguing about it other than for the fact that the teen wanted to have more responsibility bestowed upon him. He looked over at Michonne and she came over with Judith in her arms, happy to see her big brother.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Carl wants to go out riding bikes with Sophia and some of the other kids without an adult."
"We're riding to one of the new safe houses to get familiar with the best route there." Carl continued his debate to Michonne. "We'll get up early and be back by lunchtime. Please, guys?"
"I think you should let them go, Rick." Michonne pitched her two cents as she settled Judith on her hip. "With Zayla's gun lessons, Carl and Sophia can handle keeping a group safe. And they're asking to go out in the daylight. And they'll be getting a route down for those maps. And-"
"Alright, Michonne, I get it." He sighed again as Carl expectantly looked at him with excitement in his bright blue eyes. "One time. If anything happens, the chaperone rule is in effect until you're twenty."
"Thanks, Dad!" Carl cheered and gave his father a hug before running off in search of his girlfriend.
Carl found Sophia with Ben and Robbie in the courtyard with their bikes and someone grabbed his yellow and black Rocky Mountain Growler. Sophia had a sky-blue Civia Lowry Step-Thru while the other two brothers had black and blue Trek 820s. They remembered riding the bikes in the parking lot of the mall when they went to raid it as a big group and the adults allowed them to take home something they could carry. Since then, they only used their bikes to lure Walkers away from the gates for target practice and they were dying to go on a field trip now that they had somewhere to go.
"Got the green light." Carl smiled at his friends as they cheered and he grabbed the manual air pump to make sure his tires were perfect for tomorrow. "We've got until lunchtime tomorrow, so eat breakfast, then we're going."
….
Carl, Sophia, Robbie and Ben arrived at the red Craftsman home and stopped to listen to their surroundings for any Walker activity. They didn't hear growling or thumping anywhere, so they parked their bikes in front of the house and walked inside, locking the door after. Ben and Robbie went to search for anything edible in the kitchen while Sophia and Carl toured the remainder of the lower level, finding the huge wall-length TV in the living room. They went into the kitchen and found the door to the basement, going down together. There were no Walkers in sight, but they did find an unplugged power generator waiting to be used. Carl knew how to operate the machine, so he hooked up the wiring and pressed the power button, making the basement lights come on.
They came back upstairs and turned the TV down low enough not to draw in any attention, but loud enough for them to still enjoy the sounds coming from the large screen. Inside the TV stand was an Xbox 360 with at least 12 games stacked neatly beside the console and two controllers were sitting on a stand on the top. Carl picked four of the cases and held them out to Sophia as she closed her eyes and blindly picked one Call of Duty: Black Ops II. They sat on the sofa and began to hear the boys making popcorn in the kitchen, coming out with two big bowls of buttery popcorn and a six-pack of cola for snacks. They all took turns playing the game for about 4 hours, then Carl's watch beeped to let them know they had an hour and a half left of outside time before it was time to go back home.
"We should probably get back now." Carl announced and that made the other boys groan in protest.
"He's right. I've gotta clean my gun with Zayla today too." Sophia added.
"Alright. Two more rounds, then we go." Robbie bartered and Carl checked his watch.
"One more round, then we have to leave if we wanna do this again."
The boys agreed and began their last round with Sohphie while Carl began cleaning up. Sophia began helping him after a few minutes and they were in the kitchen now, taking the time to sneak in a few kisses until Carl's watch went off again. He went back into the basement to turn off the generator and heard the boys whine upstairs, but they had to get going now.
They went outside, checked for Walker activity and were relived to find that their videogame sesion didn't lure any lurkers to the area. They got on their bikes and made their way back to the Prison with the sun high in the sky. When they got back to the gates, they had to lure a small group of Walkers away from the gates, then they were able to ride in and Rick was waiting for them to return while Beth was getting Judith settled down for an afternoon nap.
"We're back in one piece." Carl smiled at his Dad as he kicked the kickstand out on his bike. As soon as he was standing, Rick was hugging his son in a way that always made Carl think about his mother, so he returned the embrace witht the same amount of emotion. "I told you we'd be fine."
"You did." Rick nodded as he detached. "I've gotta stop worrying about you."
"Wanna go get lunch?" He asked just as Sophia, Robbie and Ben were passing them, chattering about some of the achievements they earned while playing video games.
"You go on with your friends." Rick smiled at his son as he went to catch up with the trio.