AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I posted Chapter 23 earlier today, so please don't miss that one!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Carol was nervous for most of the day on Friday. Her whole body practically buzzed in anticipation of the date. She'd been out to eat with Daryl. She'd shared coffee with him at the café. She'd shared ice cream with him over a picnic table. It was an entirely different thing, though, to have him spending a casual evening in her home.

Although she meant for the evening to be casual, Carol didn't want to come off as too slouchy. After work she'd cleaned herself up and carefully selected her outfit, and she'd spent some time in front of the mirror cursing the wild directions her short-shorn curls chose for her hair. As far as makeup went, she wasn't much of a fan of it, but a little mascara and some lip gloss didn't hurt.

She'd put out candles, for when the food was ready, and she'd checked and double checked that she had all the ingredients she needed for the salad and baked potatoes. In addition, she had chilled wine breathing and beer chilling in the fridge.

She'd almost had time to talk herself out of it—to convince herself that it was late, and Daryl probably didn't want to come over this late, and she was tired, and it would be better to do this some other time—when Daryl had arrived.

Immediately—the precise moment that she opened the door to see him standing there, clearly having rushed home to change clothes and clean up before dinner—a large portion of her anxiety melted away with something like relief.

She smiled at him.

"Flowers?"

He grinned and offered her the bouquet that he was holding in one hand. In the other hand, he carried a dish covered with tinfoil—clearly, he'd been marinating the steaks.

"Georgia wildflowers," he said.

"They're beautiful," Carol said. "So colorful. I buy flowers for myself but…nobody's ever bought them for me before. Thank you—I'll put them in water and we can enjoy them on the table." Daryl nodded that he liked that idea, but didn't voice it. His cheeks had gone pink, and Carol realized she'd trapped him in the doorway, so she stepped aside to invite him. "Come in. Do you need—help with the steaks?"

"Just need to know where the grill is," Daryl said. "Got charcoal and lighter fluid in the truck."

"Backyard," Carol said. "You can go out the back door or—the gate's not locked. Can I help?"

Daryl shook his head.

"I don't need help," he said. "But—I wouldn't mind the company. If you don't mind the smell of the grill and all."

"Let me—put the flowers in some water and put the potatoes on," Carol said. "Then I could join you. Would you like—something to drink? I bought beer. I wasn't sure what you drank, but I think it's the type you got at the restaurant."

"I'm not picky. Beer sounds good," Daryl said. "Whatever you got'll be great."

Carol did what she said she would do. She prepared and wrapped the potatoes and set them to bake. She prepped the salad quickly. She put the beautiful flowers in water, and she arranged the vase on the table so that it would be lovely to look at, but wouldn't interrupt their view of each other as they ate.

Then she poured a glass of wine for herself and grabbed a beer for Daryl.

Her stomach fluttered, and her heart skipped a beat, when she stepped down the back-porch steps to find Daryl standing out in the yard, looking like he was completely at home, there, grilling steaks for the two of them to enjoy.

"Is the grill OK?" Carol asked.

"Good," Daryl said. "Thanks," he added, when she passed him the beer. "Grill's good—nice."

"New," Carol said. "Practically."

"Why don't you grill?"

"I just—don't," Carol said. "I don't know why, honestly. We had a get together at a friend's house—Alice, my friend. Alice. We were at her house. And we grilled burgers and hot dogs. It was so nice that I wanted a grill. I went out immediately and bought one." Carol shrugged. "I grilled on it once. I guess I didn't want it as much as I thought I did."

Daryl laughed to himself and tasted his beer before he rested it on the attached surface of the grill and stepped back to light a cigarette.

"Sounds to me like you didn't want the grill," Daryl offered. "Sounds to me like—maybe you wanted the company. The good time you had with your friend, Alice, and…everyone else that was there. You associated the good time with the grill, but the grill, by itself, weren't the good time."

Carol raised her eyebrows at him.

"Are you a handyman and a psychiatrist?" She asked, finally tasting her wine. It was cool and sweet and perfect for the evening.

Her face ached. She realized that she hadn't stopped smiling since Daryl had appeared on her doorstep. The realization made her slightly self-conscious and her stomach twisted in response to it.

Daryl smiled and lifted the lid on the grill to look at the beautiful steaks for which he'd taken responsibility. He fussed with the steaks a moment, closed the lid, and stepped back to remove the cigarette from his lips.

"Not a psychiatrist," he said. "And—I don't know how much to say because I'm not sure exactly how much it would take to send you running away screaming."

Carol's chest tightened. She laughed, but she could tell that there was some truth to his words. The way he was looking at her—holding her eyes with his own—told her that he was trying to ask the question in a roundabout way. He wanted to know how close she was to bolting.

Carol tasted her wine and carefully considered his words. She held his eyes with her own. She didn't want to say anything she didn't mean. She didn't want to make promises that she couldn't keep.

"I'm—trying not to run," she said finally. "And tonight is supposed to be about me getting to know you, right? You're supposed to tell me your story."

"I think it was you that told me a lifetime's a long time," Daryl said. "Makes for a long story."

"We've got all night," Carol said.

"Touché," Daryl said. He drank a long swallow of his beer, and Carol wondered if she should offer him another and run inside for it. He put the beer down, though, and didn't mention his desire for more at the moment. "You wanna start this now or…?"

"It's as good a time as any," Carol said.

Daryl nodded his head. He sighed, and then he laughed quietly to himself.

"Hell—it's not like you ain't gonna find out about me if you don't run, right? And if you gonna run—might as well go ahead and open the gate."

"Gate's unlocked," Carol said softly. "I don't think—anybody's trapped."

"That's one way to look at it," Daryl said. "Shit—where to begin, huh? You asked about the—psychiatry. I'll start there. Maybe—maybe not all of it. But enough. Lifetime's a long time, after all. Uh—so—I've read a lot of books. Those self-help type books. Self-help. Self-discovery. All those books. Sometimes they're worth it, and sometimes they might as well be toilet paper."

"I could agree with that," Carol said.

"Been to a therapist. To get my head shrunk. That's what Merle calls it. Not—it's not somethin' regular. Not like—I got some kinda standing appointment. Once in a while, I'll go. But—I'm not crazy, OK? Like I'm not like—axe murderer crazy or somethin' like that."

"I never would have thought you were," Carol assured him, her stomach knotting itself as she listened to him speak—not because she was afraid, but rather because she could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of him as he told her about himself.

"I—uh—went once a long time back just to see what it was about," Daryl said. "They talk about it like it can cure all your problems. Erase your whole life or something, if you want it to. It didn't. But—it was a little like payin' someone to give you advice about shit you couldn't say to someone else…or you didn't want to. Payin' someone to listen to you, even. So, I go—sometimes. Once in a while."

"I think that's great," Carol said.

"Yeah?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah," Carol confirmed, nodding her head. "I've—thought about it."

"Maybe you oughta keep thinkin' about it," Daryl said. "Not that I'm sayin' you're…you know…not that I'm sayin' you need it, but…just if it would make you feel better. Clear your head a little."

Carol reached out her hand. She rested it on the lower part of Daryl's arm. He let his eyes drift down to it before he returned them to hold her eyes. She smiled at him.

"The gate's still unlocked," Carol offered. "And—I'm not running for it."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"You like your steak—what? Medium-rare?"

"Medium to medium-well," Carol said.

"Noted," Daryl said. "I'll take mine off, then."

Carol watched as he transferred his steak to the plate and covered it with the foil.

"I hate for yours to be cold," Carol said. "Just—waiting on mine."

"And I'd hate for yours to be any way you don't wanna eat it," Daryl said. "For real, though, it ain't no problem. It's just gonna rest an' be better for it when we get in there to eat."

"Can I ask—what you went to the therapist about?" Carol asked. "What you—read the books about? Or is that too personal? You don't have to say. Not if you don't want to."

Daryl laughed to himself. He lit a new cigarette for himself and took a modest drink from the beer that was sweating, demanding to be drank more quickly than he was drinking. Carol drank a large swallow from her wine glass, aware that it would grow warmer than she wanted it if she simply held it in her hand too long.

"You've—told me about your husband," Daryl said. "Your ex-husband."

"Ed," Carol supplied. Daryl nodded.

"Told me how the hell he used to treat you," Daryl said. He shook his head. "Nobody should have to live like that. And—no man oughta feel like he has the right to put his hands on his woman like that. On anybody, really."

"I agree," Carol said, her heart beating rapidly in her chest at the very mention of Ed.

"My old man was an asshole like that," Daryl said. "First class."

Carol's stomach practically felt like it dropped to her feet. Her chest tightened.

"Daryl—I'm sorry…" Carol said.

"Don't be," Daryl said with a laugh. "You know—it's just a thing."

"Still…" Carol said.

"Still…" Daryl echoed, some teasing in his tone. "I'm just tellin' you what you asked. Not because I want pity, but because…hell you say you like honesty. Here it is. I'm bein' honest. My old man was an asshole. My Mama—she died way too early. Before I was ready to be without her, I guess. Maybe. Sudden. A house fire. Merle was damn near my Mama and my Daddy, all rolled into one, for most of my life." Daryl laughed to himself. "If that ain't enough to make you think about goin' to sit with some therapist for an hour, just to see what it's all about—I don't know what is."

"I'm sorry," Carol said, again. "Those words sound empty, though. Emptier than I—than I want them to be."

"Don't they always? Really, though…it's alright. I'm answerin' your question. Nothin' more'n that." He lifted the lid on the grill, moved the steak around, and examined it. Leaving the lid up, he turned his attention to finishing his cigarette. "You haven't met my brother yet."

"No," Carol confirmed. Daryl laughed to himself.

"Maybe I'm tryin' to save you from that experience," Daryl said. "He's—we'll say he's unique. He's a fuckin' asshole when he wants to be. To be honest, he means well most the time. Just not real good at knowin' when he ought to not be an asshole. He'd give a saint a hard-damn time."

Carol laughed to herself.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him," she offered.

"He's gonna be glad to meet you, too. But he's gonna give me hell. That's just how he is. You—uh—you got any plans about…introducing me to anyone?"

"There's no one to introduce you to," Carol said. "My parents are deceased. I lost touch with my family when I was married to Ed. He was—he was an isolator. It was part of his way of keeping tight control over me and everything that happened between us. I tried to reconnect with some of my family when we first got divorced, but…sometimes rifts are a little too deep and a little too wide."

"You got friends, though. They're like your family, ain't they?"

Carol smiled to herself.

"You want to meet my girlfriends?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and moved her steak, covering it on the plate. He didn't immediately move to go inside, though. Maybe they were letting the steaks rest, as he'd said.

"If they're like your family, I'm going to meet 'em sooner or later, right? Might as well—let 'em go ahead and judge me. Tell you what the hell they think of me." He snubbed his cigarette out and finished the beer in a swallow. Carol watched as he took the spent butts and dropped them in the empty beer bottle. He looked at her, but quickly looked away. "Tell you—that—you could do a hell of a lot better."

Carol drank her wine down—the rest of the glass. Maybe it was to match him, drink for drink. Maybe it was to give her something to do to cover over the discomfort she felt in her stomach at his words.

"They wouldn't say that," she said, shaking her head.

Daryl laughed to himself—she could feel that it was put on. Forced. It was something to cover up his actual feelings in the moment.

"What else was it you wanted to know?" He asked. She sensed the question was purely hypothetical. She sensed that, in what he'd already said, there was a hint of the answer that, more than likely, he'd probably been rehearsing in nervous preparation for the evening.

She could feel his anxiety, and it made her own stomach ache with understanding and empathy.

"What you're doing here," Carol said. "Making—steaks for me. For us to share. Instead of being home, right now, with some…amazing wife."

Daryl nodded his head.

"Yeah—I thought that's what you asked about," he mused. He reached for the platter of steaks, and Carol freed his hands to fully support it by taking the empty beer bottle from him. "Come on—I'ma need another beer, and the flies are biting."

111111111111111111111111111111111111

AN: I should warn you that it's a big night, so there's going to be more than one part to "Friday night."

I normally try not to double/triple post on the same story in one day, but someone is recovering and I know this would make her feel better, so I'm breaking my own "rule." That being said, please don't forget the last chapter, too!

I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to let me know what you think!